


To Be Human

by Wrenchinator97



Series: To Be Human [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Major Original Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-08-09 00:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 65,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7778761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrenchinator97/pseuds/Wrenchinator97
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We have documented evidence that up until Penny was created, All living creatures except the Grimm can generate an Aura. So what does that say about Daniel, a Huntsman in training with a major setback: he is completely incapable of generating an Aura. Takes place approximately one school year before Volume One.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to To Be Human. I started this story back in late 2014, and finished it mid 2015. I had finished uploading it to several other sites, but then came across AO3, and decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to post it here before I begin posting chapters from the sequel to it. Enjoy!

 

“Name?

“Daniel Grigio.”

“Age?”

“Seventeen.”

“Gender?”

“,, Are you serious?”

The Beacon official looked up at the pale redheaded teenager in the beat up denim jacket standing at his desk.

“I mean, are you so confused about the whole gender thing, that you actually have no idea whether I'm a boy or girl?”

“It's school policy. I have to ask your gender.”

The teenager sighed. “I'm a guy. Next question?”

The official went back to the paper on his desk and without missing a beat asked “Human of Faunus?”

“Grimm actually. On my mother's side.”

Now it was the official’s turn to sigh. “Kid, you're making this harder than it has to be. We've already established that you have no prior schooling that would help you to become a Huntsman, which means more paperwork for me to set up a time for you to take a written aptitude test. Now, if you could just help me through this paperwork, we can be done here.”

The teenager held up his hands in defense. “Okay, okay. If you must know, I’m a human.”

If the official had any reaction, he didn't show it. He went back to his paper once more and asked “Sexual Identification?”

“Oh come on!”

Truth be told though, Daniel was probably more closely related to the Grimm than the balding man in front of him realized. Daniel's life had been one long hell hole from the beginning. There were many reasons as to why that was. His mother had died giving birth to him, his dad was an abusive alcoholic, and Daniel himself was the result of a drunken one night stand between the two.

But the biggest reason was not evident until his fifth birthday when Vale had forced his father to send him to a mandatory well check. It was there that they realized something that had required his dad to pay out of his liquor fund to make certain it never came to light.

Despite being a living, breathing human, Daniel was incapable of generating an Aura

Daniel remembered the scene vividly, even if he had no idea at the time what was happening. They’d already been detained for longer than what Daniel’s father had seemed to deem necessary, when the doctor reentered the room and delivered the somber news. Instantly, Daniel’s father lashed out at the doctor, calling him all sorts of horrid names. The doctor in return was forced to backtrack and explain Daniel’s condition further.

“We don't know if he has a soul or not,” the doctor had said in a careful tone, watching the movements of Daniel’s father for anything that could be seen as a hostile move, “But we are certain that your son has no Aura surrounding him. Quite honestly sir, I don’t know what to say. This is the first case I’ve ever heard of.”

Daniel shuddered, remembering what had happened later that day. His father had beat him senseless, calling him and his mother horrible names.

“That goddamn bitch probably changed the records to show I was your father,” he had said. “Blamed it all on the town drunk when in fact, she was the one out in the forest screwing Grimm!”

He had hit Daniel with his belt until it was all he could do to crawl away while his father poured himself another glass. He hadn’t understood the words he had said then, but he learned them very quickly. Far too quickly.

That was when he was five. In the twelve years since, things had yet to improve.

Two weeks ago, Daniel finally had enough. He had waited until his ‘father’ was on his eighth bottle and beginning to nod off when he made his move. He packed his school backpack with everything he thought he might need, as well as a handgun his father had left on the coffee table, and made his way out of the door, never looking back.

The official asked him a few more questions before finally putting the paper off to the side. “It’ll take about a day to get this sorted out, plus another two to get a test put together. Come back in three days and we can provide an aptitude test to find if you are eligible for enrolling in Beacon.”

Daniel’s heart sank. _“Another three days?”_ he despaired. Then he pushed the thoughts aside. He wanted to be a Huntsman, but if he couldn’t survive three more days on the street, he had no business even applying. Daniel waved to the recruiter and left the office, retracing his route to the front door. He grabbed his dirtied and torn school backpack he’d left by the front desk and made his way out into the world. As he left the school grounds and entered downtown Vale, people began unconsciously moving out of his way. Alex hated it. It was like they somehow knew what he was and were so disgusted by it that they didn’t want to even be near him.

It probably also had to do with the saber hanging from his belt, ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. People who openly carried a weapon on the streets were either law enforcement, Huntsmen, or someone looking for trouble. Daniel was too young to be a policeman, and he was far too filthy to be from Beacon. In their eyes, that made him someone looking for trouble.

Having grown up in the life he had, Daniel never got the chance to go to a school that would give him any chance to forge his own weapons like most Huntsmen and Huntresses did. So when Daniel ran away from home, he took with him a sword he had found in an ancient wood chest in the basement he used as a bedroom. It was clearly old, but in surprisingly good condition, with a blade that looked like it could cut a Beowulf from head to toe.

Daniel was lost in this flashback when something unexpected happened. Someone got close enough to him that he actually ran into them. Shocked, he stumbled back.

Another teenager was staring at him in utter revulsion, the cigarette he was about to light hanging limply from his mouth.

“Who the hell you think you are, punk?” he snarled. “Some kind of walking corpse?”

“Umm, no?” Daniel replied, a little unsure what the other teenager was referencing with the corpse comment.

“Well, answer me corpse!” the teenager demanded. “You just ran into me. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Look, if you want an apology, I’m sorry for me running into you. Now if you’ll excuse me-”

“You aren’t going nowhere!” the teenager growled. He pulled out a switchblade and made a move to open it. Before he got the chance, Daniel knocked it out of his grip and put his foot on it. The teenagers face contorted into a mask of rage as he swung at Daniel, who dodged the blow and grabbed the arm, twisting it painfully until the teenager’s knees buckled and he fell to the ground. It was a move that Daniel had found to be extremely effective when dealing with bullies.

“Don’t try that again,” Daniel growled in a low tone. He shoved the teenager back and picked up the knife. Intent on escaping the stares from the crowd that had gathered around them, Daniel quickly left the scene, pausing only to toss the knife into the nearest storm drain he could find before continuing on his way.

**@0@0@**

Fifteen minutes later, Daniel had reached his destination: A Simple Wok. It was a noodle bar that Daniel had come to enjoy for its low price and more than decent noodles. Taking a bowl, he sat at his usual spot and halfheartedly watched the news on a grimy old television mounted on an equally grimy wall. The story that night was about some guy that had jumped probation and was now believed to be committing armed robberies in Vale. Daniel paid it little thought. Whoever the guy was, he doubted he would be interested in robbing a runaway teen like himself. He did become interested when he noticed the guy had similar colored hair as himself, but he soon sank back into boredom as he finished his noodles. When he was done, he handed it back to the balding man at the counter along with several Lien he’d taken with him when he left. Daniel was standing up to leave when a restraining hand was placed on his shoulder. He turned to see a green haired bespectacled man that had been sitting next to him while he had eaten. Come to think of it, the man had been there several times in the past few days.

Daniel sighed. Here it was. People were beginning to notice him and ask questions. He considered ignoring the man, but decided that it would only provoke more suspicion. He turned back to the bar and slowly sat down.

‘Young man, I couldn’t help but notice that you have been here on a consistent basis with clothes that are in an increasing state of filth,” the man spouted out at a fast pace that Daniel had trouble keeping up with. “Tell me, are you homeless?”

Daniel tried to come up with a lie that sounded legitimate, but the glasses peered at him, taking in every detail. Lying would not work on him. Daniel hung his head, defeated. “Yeah, I am.”

“Dreadful, simply dreadful,” the man said. “You have my upmost sympathies young man. I can only hope that you are not alone in your situation.”

Daniel nodded. “Of course,” he replied; neglecting to mention that the people looking out for him were himself, and the .45 he had tucked away in the back of his pants.

The man continued to stare at him, taking note of the sword strapped to his side. After what seemed like ages, he finally relented. “Very well then, I wish you the best of luck. I expect I will see you tomorrow, at the same time?”

“Yeah.” Daniel agreed. “See you tomorrow sir.”

The man removed his hand and Daniel took the opportunity to leave. He did so with a heavy heart. He liked that man, along with the others who frequented the noodle bar. They were the first people he could remember that didn’t immediately treat him with some form of revulsion. But he had a good heart, and that good heart could wind him up back where he began, with nothing more than a beating and even more restrictions placed upon him.

He wouldn’t be able to eat at the noodle bar again.


	2. Chapter 2

It was late by the time Daniel made it back to where he had been sleeping for the past week. It was a long dirty alleyway that was also home to half a dozen other homeless people. Like the people on the street, they too gave him a wide berth. Unlike the people on the street, Daniel didn’t mind it. They at least had a legitimate reason to keep their distance.

Having reached a spot that looked marginally less dirty despite ironically being next to a dumpster, Daniel dropped his backpack and reached into it to pull out a lightweight sleeping bag and a fleece blanket. Spreading the blanket out, he squirmed into the sleeping bag and propped his backpack up so he could use it as a pillow. He was glad it wasn’t raining like last night. He had a poncho he could wrap up in, but it got stuffy underneath it very quickly, and the fleece took forever to dry out.

He was just beginning to drift off to sleep when a bright light was shined in his face.

“This the one boss?” a gruff voice asked.

Daniel felt himself get grabbed by the hair and raised into a somewhat standing position. He squinted, but couldn’t make out any distinct features.

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

Daniel was hit in the side of the head and went flying to the side. He hit the dumpster with an almighty thud as he blearily tried to make out what was going on. All he could see was that he was surrounded by dark shapes. Trying to escape, he scrambled to get out of the sleeping bag. He had just managed to get one foot disentangled when he received a kick to the ribs for his trouble.

“Stop squirming punk. I can’t hit you straight when you squirm.”

Instincts honed from countless bullies in school kicked in and Daniel rolled out of the way. When he got to what he felt was a safe distance, he struggled up, reaching for his saber. Before he could, someone grabbed him in a chokehold. Daniel tried to squirm free, but stopped when he felt the cold metal of a gun barrel being placed at his temple.

“Damn. This is a slippery S.O.B.”

“Not slippery enough it would seem.” The boss said with a chuckle. He struck a match and Daniel saw his features for the first time. It was the teenager he had run into earlier in the day. He used the match to light a cigarette and tossed it away.

“So now I’ve got you here, I wonder what I’m going to do to get my revenge.”

“Revenge for what?” Daniel struggled to say past the chokehold.

“You tossed my favorite knife in the sewer, and your stink still hasn’t washed off of me,” the leader snarled.

“Have you tried taking a bath?” Daniel asked. “It should do wonders for your hair as well,” He immediately paid for that with a kick to the stomach. He stumbled into the guy holding him and his grip loosened slightly. Feeling the change, Daniel wrenched against his arm. When that didn’t work, he bit down hard on his holder’s hand. The man screamed and let go of him. Daniel shoved him away and managed to draw his sword the rest of the way out of the sheath.

The leader sighed. “You got guts punk. If you were any other guy, I might’ve let you join. But instead, you had to toss my knife in the sewer.”

“Do you, honestly think, that I would join, your piss poor group, of slack jawed idiots?” Daniel asked, massaging his throat

The leader started towards him when one of the dark figures put a restraining hand on him. “Let him go Vlad. Do we really need to go after a guy just because he messed up you knife? You always said you hated that knife anyways.”

“Shut the hell up Dakota. You lost your right to speak when you decided we weren’t good enough for you. I’m the boss, and I say we tear this punk a new one.”

Daniel lunged at the nearest figure who danced out of his way. Following up with a slash, he managed a glancing blow that ripped whatever jacket the man was wearing. The man cursed and pulled out a baton. It extended into a dark shape that looked like a sword staff. He clicked a button and the blade lit up with electricity.

Going on the defensive, Daniel parried the blade and slid down the shaft, scoring a hit on the attacker’s arm. The man swore and swung at his legs. Daniel stepped out of the blade’s reach and as he recovered, Daniel lunged and stabbed him in the side, going deep. The man screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching at his wounds.

Daniel was turning to run when someone hit him hard in the back of the head. His vision blinked out and he collapsed to the ground.

@0@0@

It was hours before Daniel woke up again. Groaning, he managed to sit up. He immediately regretted his decision when a splitting headache lanced through his head. He curled up, clutching his head as it wracked his body. He cursed his lack of an aura. If he could generate one, this never would’ve happened.

After what seemed like ages, the headache finally passed. Sitting back up, gingerly this time, he observed his surroundings. He was still in the alleyway that he had been mugged in. His backpack was gone, as was his fleece blanket and sleeping bag. Judging from the lack of a bulge in his back pocket, they had taken his wallet as well.

Daniel groaned. While losing his wallet and backpack with his changes of clothes and emergency rations was bad enough, the missing sleeping bag and fleece was tantamount to disaster. During this time of year, the weather tended to get very cold during the night. If he had only a denim jacket to keep him war, it could become downright dangerous to sleep outside.

Wincing, he stood up. As he did, he was both surprised and relieved that they had left him with his weapons. At least he had some way of fighting as a Huntsman.

Stumbling out of the alley, he squinted at the sudden brightness. He checked his watch and through the spider web of cracks on the face, he saw that it was three in the afternoon.

Daniel reviewed his options. He couldn’t go to a homeless shelter since he was still underage and therefore subject to being sent back home. He couldn’t stay in the elements if he didn’t have anything to wear other than the clothes on his back. And somehow he doubted that the owner of A Simple Wok would let him sleep there. That left Daniel one option.

@0@0@

It was night before Daniel made it to Beacon Academy. Up close, it was even more impressive than it was from afar. The long pathway led up to a massive spire that seemed to Daniel to reach to the heavens. Fortunately, the dormitories were not at the top.

Daniel scrabbled up the wall and began creeping across the ledge. As he passed each window, he saw groups of students preparing for bed. Ignoring these, he continued on; passing by those that seemed occupied and inspecting those that did not. Eventually he found one that was completely deserted. He tested the window to find it opened from the inside. Hanging by one hand, Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out an old credit card. It had expired years ago, but he had rescued it from the garbage for instances such as these. He slid it into the crack and worked at the lock. To his horror, after only a few seconds of work, the card snapped in two. Desperate, Daniel slid the shard he still had in his hand back into the gap. He was rewarded with a click and the window swung open.

The inside was dark and barren. Lined up against a wall, there were four matressless beds. A fine layer of dust lined the fixtures and it smelled of mildew.

It was the nicest place Daniel had slept in for weeks.

Carefully, Daniel closed the window enough so that it would appear closed, but so that it would provide a quick escape should he need one. He tossed his jacket onto the ground and made his way into the adjoining bathroom. Inside there was a mirror that Daniel used to get the first glimpse of himself in weeks.

His body was covered in dirt and grime, and his clothes were torn. All over his exposed skin, he was covered in bruises and shallow cuts from the gang members. They had really done a number on him. Turning the handle on the faucet, he was rewarded with a slow but steady trickle of water. He wet his hands, and carefully dabbed at the cuts. With no Aura or anything antibacterial, he’d be risking infection. But there was little that he could do.

Having cleaned up a bit, Daniel headed back into the main room and selected the far left bed. He curled up on it, using his arm as a pillow. In seconds, he was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know what I said about updating on Monday and Friday, but I just realized that with me spending most of tomorrow driving to college and setting up my dorm, there isn't going to be much time to post a chapter; even one that's been completed for over a year now. So i'm posting it today, and will hopefully return to the normal schedule next week. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to drop a kudo or a comment, and I'll see you all on Monday.  
> -GN


	3. Chapter 3

Unfortunately for Daniel, that sleep did not last for long. He was woken a mere two hours later by the rumbling of his stomach. He reached for his backpack, only to remember that he didn’t have it with him anymore. The events of the past day flooded back to him and he winced as his head throbbed once more. He searched his jacket pockets but only came up with .37 cents in change, and four magazines for his pistol. He groaned, not just for the food now, but also with the realization that he now had only thirty five shots remaining, counting the ones loaded in his pistol. He pushed it aside though, and focused on the more pressing issue. If he didn’t eat for two days straight, he’d be in no condition to fight. Since the soup kitchens he knew of were hours away, he was left with the ugly job of appropriating food from others.

Daniel hated stealing. He knew from brief and painful experience that every illegal act only made the stares and cold shoulders worse. Nonetheless, he had no choice. He rolled off the bed and opened the door carefully. The hallways were dark except for the shafts of light from students still up. Years of training that came from avoiding his father in his drunken rages kicked in as Daniel slipped down the hallways, pausing at every creek, ducking at every shadow.

After about fifteen minutes of sneaking, Daniel finally arrived at the dining hall. He made his way into the kitchen where he found row upon row of ovens, stoves, cutting tables, refrigerators, and pantries. Moving to the latter, he wrenched the doors open and was washed in a golden light of an automatic light. As it happened, this pantry housed next morning’s breakfast. Daniel grabbed as many handfuls of Poptarts and Danishes as he could and began stuffing them in his jacket pockets. He was just finishing up when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Daniel slammed the door shut and ducked down under one of the nearby tables. He did so just as the kitchen door opened and an old woman Daniel assumed to be the cook stepped in.

“What is this? Some student thinks they can have a midnight snack and get it past me eh? Don’t’cha know what happens when try and steal from the kitchen?”

Daniel’s blood ran cold as she picked up a wooden spoon and twirled it like a baton. In the dark kitchen, it looked just as menacing as any weapon Daniel had ever seen.

He slowly edged along the table as she searched. As he neared the end, he faced a dilemma. If he stayed where he was, he was certain to be caught. But if he moved, she would see him. Daniel carefully reached up and grabbed one of the cans resting on the table above him. He tested its weight, and tossed it into the far corner. The cook shrieked in delight and hurried over towards the commotion. As she went one way, Daniel went the other. He was sliding past the open door when the cook called out “There you are!”

Daniel’s heart sank. She had found him. She would take him to the administration and they would remove his eligibility as a candidate. He’d be sent back to his father and any dream of becoming a huntsman would be ruined. He slowly stood up in resignation when the cook cried out in surprise. “Professor Port?”

The Cook was not looking at him, but at an older man that Daniel hadn’t noticed before.

“Professor Port, one would expect that the many times that I have caught you in here would have given you more discretion in these matters.”

“Ah yes. I apologize dear Guinevere, but I must admit that the soda bread you cooked up for dinner was too good not to have seconds of. I’m afraid that my stomach has gotten the best of me.”

Daniel didn’t wait to hear the rest of the conversation. He slipped out of the kitchen and hurried back to the room.

@0@0@

And thus passed Daniel’s two nights hiding in Beacon. He would lay low during the day, passing the time through swordplay and exercise. At night he slept on the matressless bed, waking constantly at every noise outside his borrowed room.

In the early morning of the third day, he cleaned up the room as best as he could and slipped out before anyone woke up. Braving the damp chill in the air, he rearranged himself on one of the benches in the courtyard outside Beacon’s main spire. There, he dozed back off to a fitful sleep. By the time he woke, it was late morning and students were milling around, occasionally glancing in his direction and wrinkling their noses in disgust. It wasn’t Daniel’s fault; whoever had left the water on in the faucet had neglected to do so with the shower as well. Yawning, Daniel stretched and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out his last pop tart. Chewing it as he walked, he strode up the steps and into the main hall of the school. It was impressively large; with columns so thick that Daniel doubted he could reach around them, and arches with designs so intricately carved in, they seemed almost lifelike.

A small cough interrupted Daniel’s gaze. He looked over to where the noise came from. A glowing female AI sat behind a desk staring at him. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yes you can,” Daniel said, striding over. “I submitted an application for admission a few days ago and was wondering if it had been approved yet.”

The AI nodded. “Of course. Can I have your name please?”

“Daniel Grigio.”

The AI began typing on a holographic keyboard. Daniel knew that it was purely an aesthetic touch, but admired it nonetheless. Clearly someone had put a lot of time and effort into the AI’s design.

After a few moments, the AI looked up. “We do have a Daniel Grigio on file, but I’m afraid that I am unable to access the intricacies of the file, including your status.”

Daniel swore. “Is there anyone who could?”

“A Professor would have the clearance to do so, as would the recruiter you talked to,” The AI answered. “If you’d like, I could direct you to his office.”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

She typed a few more things into the computer. “Mr. Langweilig has yet to clock in, but should do so soon.” She held out her hand. “If you’ll hand me your cellular device, I can download a free application that will walk you to his office.”

Daniel grinned sheepishly. “I actually don’t have a Scroll.” He knew that when his father had grudgingly given him a Scroll, he had also installed an app that would allow him to not only track his location, but also record audio and video from the camera and microphone. It had stayed in Daniel’s basement when he left.

The AI nodded, then looked over Daniel’s shoulder. “Ms. Scarlatina.” She called out.

Daniel turned to see a Faunus girl frozen in mid stride. He waved to her, and she flinched.

“Ms. Scarlatina, would you show Mr. Grigio to Mr. Langweilig’s office?”

“Oh! Of course,” She answered. “Right this way.”

She quickly scampered off and Daniel had to break out in a jog to keep up.

“Hey slow down!” He called after her.

She skidded to a halt and Daniel nearly ran into her.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “It’s just that;”

Daniels heart sank. Here it was. The point where they said something seemed wrong with him.

“It’s just that, well, I’m a Faunus, and we kind of have sensitive noses.”

“Sensitive noses, Oh!” Daniel exclaimed, his face heating slightly as he realized what she was talking about. “Well, I haven’t exactly had the chance to shower recently.”

She raised her eyebrow in surprise, but didn’t pursue it further. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to walk ahead of you for the time being.”

Embarrassed, Daniel rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, sure. It’s fine.”

They continued on for a few minutes before they arrived at an unassuming wooden door. “Well, this is it,” she said.

Daniel thanked her. He reached for the door handle when a thought occurred to him. “Hey!” he called back. “I didn’t catch your name.”

She paused. “Um, it’s Velvet,” she said.

Daniel smiled. “Nice to meet you Velvet.”

“Likewise,” she replied, before running off. Daniel watched her go. She was nice, but not his type. Still, that conversation was probably the longest one he'd had with any female he could remember. As Velvet disappeared around a corner, Daniel turned back to the door, only to find that it was locked.

“Would you please explain to me why you are trying to get into my office?” A dull voice said from behind Daniel. He spun around to see the recruiter he had talked to standing behind him.

“Oh, the usual. Just trying to figure out if my goal and dream of becoming a huntsman will come true.” Daniel answered.

“And you did so without trying to knock first?” the recruiter asked.

“Well yeah,” Daniel replied, “Didn’t you read my application? I was born in a barn.”

The recruiter looked him over and sighed. “Well, I suppose we might as well get this over with.” He fished out a ring of keys from his pocket and Daniel stood aside as he unlocked the door. Inside was a small room with a plain desk and cream colored walls. The recruiter sat down and riffled through a stack of papers. He pulled one out and read it through. He then looked at Daniel once more. “Is this really how you dress for an interview?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I had no idea this was going to be an interview.” Daniel said hotly. “If I did, I would’ve worn my clown suit with the fake flower.”

The recruiter sighed. “You’ve got a real attitude, you know that kid?”

“Absolutely,” Daniel replied. “It’s a natural defense against drama, B.S, and stupidity.”

For the first time, a hint of emotion besides boredom flickered across the recruiter’s face- irritation. “It would be prudent, Mr. Grigio, to show the faculty and staff at Beacon some respect. Especially those who can turn your application away.”

“Not likely,” Daniel said dismissively. “I mean, isn’t your policy to take huntsmen and huntresses from all walks of life? Even those that are assholes? Besides, isn’t it the headmaster’s job to decide who gets in and who doesn’t?”

“You are quite right Mr. Grigio,” The recruiter said. “However, events can take place that assure an application never gets to the hands of the headmaster.” He took Daniel’s application and ripped it in two before dropping it in the trash.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear that these chapters begin to get longer. Normally I would've gone back and made them longer before posting, but I've already posted them elsewhere in this form, and I don't want to have two different chapters on different sites. That would cause so many continuity issues that I don't even want to consider it.


	4. Chapter 4

Velvet hurried towards class, her heart hammering in her chest. Something wasn’t right about that boy, she thought. Nothing about him felt like anyone else. He didn’t feel quite like a human, and she was positive he wasn’t a Faunus.

So what was he?

Skidding to a halt, she realized that once again, she had made a wrong turn. It happened at least once a day now, albeit less than when she first enrolled in Beacon. Fortunately, she had enough experience to know how to get back on track.

She paused. The boy, Daniel, needed directions to the recruiter’s office. That meant that he had never set foot in Beacon before. Which meant that he could very easily get lost just trying to find the front door. Sighing, she pulled out her scroll and checked the time. If she hurried, she might be able to help him back to the lobby and still be able to make it to first period.

Velvet quickly turned around, and ran back the way she came. In no time, she reached the door. As she reached for it, the wall beside her exploded as Daniel was launched out of it. He went sailing for a good ten feet before landing hard and tumbling into another wall where he made a sizeable impression.

Velvet ran over to him. “Are you okay?” she asked. “What happened in there?”

“Goddamit.” Daniel muttered as he struggled to get back up. “That shisno tore up my application!” (A.N. I know that shisno is not from the RWBY universe and has yet to make an appearance, but let’s face it, it’s only a matter of time before Roosterteeth puts it in there in some form.)

The door opened and Mr. Langweilig stepped out, wiping nonexistent dirt off of his suit. In his right hand, he held a ball and chain that he spun in slow arcs. “I will ask you once more Mr. Grigio; remove yourself from this campus or I will be forced to call security.

“No, way,” Daniel replied angrily. He carefully got to his feet, drawing his sword as he did so. “I’m not leaving without an approved application.”

“Daniel,” Velvet cautioned.

Daniel ignored her, launching himself at the recruiter. Mr. Langweilig swung at him, but Daniel, still unsteady from hitting the wall, stumbled at just the right second to miss the ball. He regained his footing just in time to be hit in the face by the ball as it swung around. He flew once more into the wall and collapsed in a heap.

Mr. Langweilig looked at Velvet. “Ms. Scarlatina, I believe that you have classes to attend.”

“B-but what about him?” Velvet asked, motioning at Daniel. To her surprise, he was already up and slicing at Mr. Langweilig. Mr. Lanweilig brought the ball and chain up to defend and barely managed to block a downward slash that Daniel had aimed at him. Daniel angled the sword so that it slid down the length of the shaft and scored a hit on Mr. Langweilig’s hand. He roared in pain and dropped the ball and chain. Daniel followed up with a shove that sent Mr. Langweilig stumbling backwards. As he tried to recover, Daniel hit him in the head with the guard and he fell to the floor. Before he could get up, Daniel planted a knee on his chest swept his sword across his throat, holding it mere millimeters above the flesh.

“Now, resubmit my application or things get real ugly, real fast,” Daniel ordered.

Mr. Langweilig growled. “Son, you’ve crossed the line. Unprovoked attacks against school faculty results in immediate expulsion.”

“Oh I think we can agree that wasn’t exactly unprovoked now can we.”

Daniel turned in surprise to see a man in his early twenties strutting down the hallway. He wore a plain blue suit with a red bowtie. Blonde hair obscured part of his face and swung back and forth as he advanced.

“Professor Glas!” Lanweilig said in shock.

Professor Glass nodded at him and turned to Daniel. “If you would, please remove your sword from the neck of Mr. Lanweilig. I doubt the oaf is particularly comfortable down there.”

Daniel frowned but pulled the blade away and sheathed it. “You’re Professor Glas, I’m assuming?” He asked.

The Professor nodded. “Professor Arthur Glas. Instructor of battlefield tactics and unofficial doctor of Beacon. Speaking of which,” he reached into a pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Daniel, who nodded in thanks and pressed it against the cuts on his cheek where the ball had hit. “You'll want to get some ice where he hit you,” Professor Glas said. “It will help keep the bruise away.”

“Thanks,” Daniel replied.

“May I ask your name?” Professor Glas asked in curiosity.

Daniel nodded. “Daniel Grigio. Applicant to train here at Beacon.”

Professor Glas raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Indeed. Well, I think that it’s safe to say that you have fighting well under control.”

“Really?” Daniel asked; surprised that someone was actually complementing his fighting skill.

“Yes. Most people would take on a ball and chain with a longer distance weapon, or at least a shield. And yet you fought with only a sword. Speaking of which,” he held his hand out. “May I see it?”

Daniel hesitated for a moment, then unbuckled the sheath from his belt and handed it to the Professor. He took the blade out and inspected it. “No apparent customizations that suggest multiple forms” he murmured. “And yet more useful than many weapons that cross the threshold of this school.” He resheathed it and handed it back to Daniel. “It’s from the great war, if I’m not mistaken.”

Daniel nodded. “Came across it in a chest in my basement. Figured that it’d be better than a lead pipe, so I took it.”

Professor Glas nodded appreciatively. “Keep it well maintained” he instructed. “If you’re going to become a Huntsman, you will certainly need to be able to defend yourself at any moment.”

Daniel nodded, then realize what the Professor had just said. “Wait, do you mean that-”

“That I believe you have the capacity to become a student at Beacon?” Professor Glas asked with a hint of amusement. “Yes. Yes I do.” He turned back the way he came. “I have the first two periods of today reserved for planning. I would gladly proctor your written examination during that time. If you will follow me please.”

Daniel hurried after him. “Oh, and Mrs. Scarlatina, you’re five minutes late for your class.”

Velvet squeaked and took off, running in the opposite direction.

Lanweilig stumbled to his feet. “Professor, I must protest. This boy attacked me! A staff member. The rules say that-”

“The rules say that any unprovoked attack on a staff member results in immediate expulsion of the student,” Professor Glas finished. “However, Mr. Grigio is not yet a student, nor was the attack unprovoked. I seem to remember you ripping his application apart. That would most certainly count as provocation. I think we might have to have a talk with Headmaster Ozpin at a later date.”

He put a guiding hand around Daniel and steered him down the hall. For once there was someone being actually kind for Daniel, and going out of their way for him. It was a very nice feeling, Daniel decided.

@0@0@

“Time!”

Daniel mercifully put down his pencil and massaged his cramping hand. The test had taken longer than he had expected and had consisted of everything from multiple choice, to a page long essay.

Professor Glas took up his papers and fed the multiple choice section into a grading machine. He then sat on his desk and read the short responses and the essay. After about ten minutes he looked up. “So you’ve had a very rough upbringing,” he said. “I can’t imagine having to live in a single parent home where the parent was an alcoholic.”

Daniel nodded. “It wasn’t good. One time I had a doctor’s appointment and he didn’t like the results. I got it pretty bad that day.”

Professor Glas nodded. “Really, Can you remember what the results he didn’t like were?”

Daniel opened his mouth to answer, but caught himself. He liked Professor Glas, but wasn’t ready to divulge his secret to anybody, at least not yet. “I really don’t know,” he answered. “I was five at the time and didn’t really understand what the doctor was saying. Still don’t,” he added sheepishly.

Professor Glas smiled. “Truth be told, neither do I. Quite honestly, I’m more of a medic than a doctor. The way I see it, a doctor’s job is to tell you what’s wrong with you. A medic is supposed to fix what’s wrong with you and if need be, make you comfortable until you die.” He laughed at Daniel’s shocked face. “Don’t worry” he assured him. “I’ve treated a lot of people at Beacon, and I haven’t lost a patient yet.”

At long last, the machine spit out Daniel’s test results. Professor Glas pulled them out and after a brief inspection he smiled and looked back up at Daniel. “Congratulations,” he said. “You passed the exam.” Placing the multiple choice sheet on top of the written response, he slid both into a manila folder and slid off his desk. “All that remains is for Professor Ozpin to approve your application. We can take it to him now if you’d like.”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah. That’d be cool.”

Professor Glas exited the classroom and Daniel hurried after him. “So when do classes start?” He asked.

“Well, Classes start for freshmen later this week, but you have to get assigned a team first,” Professor Glas answered. “That happens the day after tomorrow.”

Daniel nodded, mentally planning out how he’d get back into the unused bedroom. As he did, they neared an elevator that ran up the spine of the tower. They entered it and Professor Glas pressed the button for the top floor. The elevator shot up at a rate that surprised Daniel. He was expecting a leisurely climb to the top.

“So what is Professor Ozpin like?” Daniel asked.

Professor Glas thought it over for a moment. “He is, different from you and I. He’s a genius, obviously; it wouldn’t be possible for him to run Beacon otherwise. But he doesn't flaunt it like you would expect. He genuinely tries to stay on a one to one basis with everyone. I personally believe that makes him the best Headmaster this school has ever had.”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Professor Glas exited and after a moment’s hesitation, so did Daniel. The room they entered was unlike any Daniel had seen. It was like someone had taken the interior of a clock tower and turned it into an office. A desk and chair sat in front of a massive circular window that had gears attached to it, controlling the hands of a clock. The chair was occupied by a man with silver hair, tinted glasses, and a black suit and a green scarf. He was sipping a something out of a white ceramic mug. He looked up as they entered. “Good morning Sir.” Professor Glas said.

“Good morning Professor.” Ozpin replied. “To what am I owed the pleasure?”

“This is Daniel Grigio.” Professor Glas answered. “He submitted an application a few days ago and just passed the entrance exam. I proctored it myself.”

Ozpin nodded and raised his mug in acknowledgement before placing it down and shifting through a pile of papers on his desk. “I don’t believe that his application was submitted to me. Who was responsible for processing it?”

“It was Lanweilig sir. He tore it up and threw it in the trash.”

“Indeed.” Ozpin said. “Tell me, where is Mr. Lanweilig now?”

“Most likely in his office nursing his pride.” Professor Glas answered. “Daniel here did quite a number on him after his application was destroyed.”

“I didn’t really do a number on him.” Daniel said, rubbing the back of his skull sheepishly. “I'm actually kind of surprised that I won. I was kind of out of it after he threw me through his wall. Next thing I know, he's on the ground and i'm on top of him.”

“All the same; to defeat any staff member in combat is not a feat to take lightly,” Ozpin said. “Professor Glas. If you would please, go back to Mr. Lanweilig’s office and try to recover the remains of Daniel’s application. If at all possible, I would like to take a look at it.”

Professor Glas nodded and left the office. Ozpin waited until the doors had closed and the elevator began moving before speaking again. “Your reputation precedes you Daniel.”

Daniel felt a ball of ice form in his stomach. “What exactly do you mean, sir?”

“I make it my job to remain informed of current events,” Ozpin replied. “Even those that people attempt to be covered up. _Especially_ those that people attempt to cover up.”

Daniel swallowed. “So you know what I am. You know that i'm a gr-”

“I do not believe that you are in any way related to the Grimm, Daniel,” Ozpin said. “I believe that what has happened to you is nature and nature alone. You share a trait with the Grimm. We all share traits with the Grimm. But traits alone do not define us. Neither do physical characteristics. It is our actions that define us. Although,” he said as he took another sip from his mug, “It will certainly make being a Huntsman more difficult for you.”

“What do you mean sir?” Daniel asked.

“The job of a Huntsman is a dangerous one, where a safe future is not always guaranteed,” Ozpin said. “Without an Aura, it could become potentially suicidal. You will have no semblance, nor any healing or shielding abilities. Furthermore, your use of dust will be limited to dust rounds and anything else that does not require an Aura. This will severely limit your options in a battle. Daniel,” he said as he stared straight into Daniel’s eyes with a piercing gaze, “These limitations could very well spell your doom. Are you willing to take that risk?”

Daniel gulped. Today had definitely taken a different turn than what he was expecting. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and forged ahead. “I understand perfectly,” he said firmly. “I don’t know what the future holds, but it’s better than what I’m leaving behind.”

Ozpin nodded. “Very well then,” he said just as the elevator doors opened and Professor Glas reentered.

“Found them sir,” Professor Glas said triumphantly. “He tore it pretty neatly, so it shouldn’t be that hard to fix.”

Ozpin took them from him and gave them a brief once over. “I suppose everything is in order then,” he said, putting them in a stack with the rest. “Just one thing I want to make certain you understand Mr. Grigio.” He stared directly into Daniels eyes. “The course of action you took today with Mr. Lanweilig will not be tolerated a second time, unless it is for dire circumstances. Failure to comply will result in your immediate expulsion. Do I make myself clear?”

Daniel nodded. “Clear sir.”

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an initiation to prepare.”

Daniel thanked him and turned to follow Professor Glas out when Ozpin called out once more. “One more thing Mr. Grigio.”

He turned to see the Headmaster with his chin resting on his hands and a faint smile playing on his lips. “Our guest rooms and mess hall are open to you until the initiation in two days. I think that you will find them preferable to pop tarts and a matressless bed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not uploading on Friday. Long story short, my roommate introduced me to Fallout 4, and things happened. Twelve hours of things. I have zero regrets.  
> Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Next one will introduce some more OCs, including some that were graciously donated by one of my friends. In case this hasn't been made obvious, TBH focuses on completely different characters than the main ones we're all used to.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fallout is a cruel seductive mistress, and I'm currently sitting under that hurricane that's hitting Florida. That's my only excuse for missing the update yesterday.

Two days later, Daniel woke up to his watch alarm beeping faintly. He rolled off of the bunk he had been assigned in the guest room and blearily stood up. Around him, other teens and preteens who had also been accepted to beacon and arrived early were getting up as well. They were nice enough though like the rest of the world, save perhaps Ozpin and Professor Glas, they kept their distance.

Daniel dressed himself and made the bed, gathering his few personal belongings as he cleaned. Having completed his duties, he and the others filed out of the guest room and made their way into the mess hall. As usual, Daniel sat alone. As usual, he didn’t care.

To his surprise however, he wasn’t alone for very long. As he ate breakfast, he heard a sliding noise and another teenager slid the length of the table, coming awkwardly close before finally stopping. “Hello!” he said in a cheerful voice. “Lovely day to become students at Beacon, isn’t it?”

Daniel grunted.

“Oh come on, don’t be so glum. It’s only the first day of the rest of our lives.”

Daniel finally looked up from his breakfast and nearly choked. The guy before him was dressed in a bright green plaid coat with a bowtie that seemed to be in a contest with the coat to find which was the ugliest. His hair was completely pink and poofing out from his head like a pink puffball. But what was craziest about him was that he was absolutely covered in dirt. Daniel didn’t think that he’d ever seen anyone with as much dirt on him than the guy in front of him. Even on the streets he had managed to keep cleaner than this. To top the ensemble off, a flower rested in his chest pocket. With the amount of dirt on his body, Daniel wouldn’t have been surprised if it was growing out of the pocket.

The boy stuck out a grubby hand. “I am Ryler Merriweather! You may’ve heard of my mother, the legendary Huntress Veridian Greene.”

“No, I can’t say I have,” Daniel said, gingerly shaking his hand before wiping his own hand on his jacket and returning to his meal.

Ryler gasped in shock. “But how could you not? She’s the legendary Plant Huntress. The one that specializes in using the very earth to fight the Grimm. Why, you’re even wearing her special perfume that’s specifically designed to make the user smell just like the beautiful earth of the sustainable farms she has successfully campaigned to be created all over the kingdoms!”

“I hate to break it to you bud, but seeing how I haven’t washed this jacket in about two weeks. You just told me your mother’s perfume smells like the back alleys and dumpsters of Vale.”

Ryler gasped again, this time in outrage. “How dare you! That perfume is taken from only the best farms; the ones where the surrounding cities’ sewage is processed into compost that promotes over fifty percent increases in crop yield!”

Daniel looked at the oatmeal resting in his spoon and suddenly felt very ill.

“I came over here in hopes of conversing with another lover of the garden, but I can see that I was mistaken,” Ryler said, standing up abruptly. “Goodbye, whoever you are.”

“It’s Daniel!” Daniel yelled at him then angrily slammed his spoon into his oatmeal, his appetite ruined. And it had been some good oatmeal. Irritated, he picked up his tray and was moving to the dishwashing station when hidden speakers chimed and a voice spoke up.

“ _Attention students; The airships containing entering freshmen will be arriving in the courtyard in ten minutes.”_

Daniel pondered the announcement. Like it or not, he would have to become part of a team with other students at Beacon; that was an unavoidable fact. His best option was to mingle with the rest of the students so he could find someone who might not slow him down. He placed his tray down at the wash station and hurried to join the crowd that was streaming out of the mess hall and into the courtyard. Being given a small berth, Daniel found it relatively easy to get through the snarl and to the near front of the crowd so he could see the students arriving.

The first thing he saw was a swaying tower of suitcases tottering towards the crowd. It was being pushed on a trolley by an aging butler following behind a boy in an immaculate white suit and a blue tie. Undeterred by the wall of people in front of him, he marched directly towards them. He had just reached the line when a chord from a guitar sung out from behind them, creating a wall of green energy that caused everyone stumble. It was the proverbial final straw for the overburdened trolley. The butler gave a cry of alarm as he vainly rushed to keep the suitcases balanced. It was no use. The trolley crashed to the ground, throwing suitcases everywhere. One struck near Daniel and burst open, scattering metal scraps everywhere.

Angrily, the boy turned around to see what had caused the accident. A blond long-haired teenager in sandals, brown leather vest, and a green and yellow tie die shirt was standing with an electric guitar his fist pumped in excitement. “Play on dudes!”

“Must you continue to play that infernal device?” The boy in the suit said irritably. “As if we didn’t hear enough of it on the airship here. And now you continue to torture us with your horrible music?”

“Man. You need to calm down a bit” the guitar player said. “Take a break from it all and take a ride on the smooth psychedelic waves of life man.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Hippies. Where does he think we are?” he looked back at his butler. “Dunham! Save what you can and meet me in the main hall. Leave anything you can’t.”

The butler bowed. “Of course Master Blanc. At once sir.”

The boy pushed his way through the crowd and continued on as if the incident had never happened. The butler stayed behind long enough to collect several suitcases that were ‘salvageable’ and followed after his charge. Surprisingly, he left several perfectly fine suitcases on the ground, including the one that split open where Daniel stood, despite looking at them multiple times. Frowning, Daniel bent down and picked up one of the metal scraps that had fallen out. Turning it, he discovered they were clips full of fire dust enhanced bullets. He pulled one out and inspected the back of the casing, finding that they were .45s that his own gun accepted. Grinning, he grabbed several handfuls and dropped them into the inside pockets of his jacket for safe keeping. As he stood up, he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. Curious, he turned to see a bespectacled teen about his age in a long black trench coat. “.45 fire enhanced automatic cartridges aren’t they?” he asked.

“Yeah, they are,” Daniel replied, both surprised and impressed that the guy had been able to make that out from a distance.

Without waiting for permission, the teen pulled Daniel’s sword off of his belt and unsheathed it, examining it. “No attached firearm which suggests that you have a secondary weapon, most likely tucked away in the back of your jeans facing so it can be drawn with the left hand.” Without waiting for permission again, he reached behind Daniel and pulled his pistol from the waistband. He pulled the slide off and inspected the insides. “Fired quite a few times, though not recently. Innards seem to be in good shape, though you’ll want to oil it relatively soon. You should also invest in an actual holster instead of just tucking it in the back of your pants. It would greatly decrease the risk of the weapon falling out.” Without warning, he reassembled Daniel’s gun and placed both the pistol and the sword back into Daniel’s hands. “Apart from the lack of a pistol holster, it appears to be an excellent combination for short range combat.”

Daniel blinked. “Uh, what just happened?”

The teen blinked and pushed his glasses up his nose, grinning sheepishly. “Sorry. Force of habit. I feel obligated to inspect any weapon that I come across. Otherwise, they might fail you whenever you least expect it.” He stuck out a hand. “Lunare Nacht.”

Daniel shook his hand. Like Ryler’s it too was dirty. But unlike Ryler’s his was covered in machine grease instead of dirt. “Daniel Grigio. Thanks for looking over my weapons like that.”

“Don't mention it; I'd hate it if Nieh Mehr was damaged from neglect, I can only assume that any responsible Huntsman or Huntress would feel the same,” Lunare said, patting a square package underneath his long coat that Daniel could only assume was his weapon. “So tell me, how is life at Beacon?”

Daniel wiped his hand off on his jacket once more. “I actually don’t know. I’m new like you and haven’t been assigned a team yet.”

Lunare’s eyebrows raised. “Really. Well then, in that case, I hope we get to be on the same t-”

“Oh hell no.”

Upon hearing these words, Daniel felt blood rush to his face. He had heard that voice only once before. Turning, he saw a guy with dark hair cut militarily short, dark wash jeans, and a black leather jacket. A lead pipe hung from his belt and a chain was wrapped around his right arm. He hadn’t managed to get a good look at the guy, but he knew from the voice that he was one of the thugs that had mugged him in the alley; the one called Dakota.

Dropping his sword, Daniel thumbed the safety off on his pistol and raised it to firing position as he stormed towards Dakota. As he neared him, Dakota lashed out and grabbed Daniel’s arm and twisted it so that the gun was pointing harmlessly away from anyone before dropping the magazine out of the grip and racking the slide so the bullet in the chamber was ejected.

“Really? You pull a gun on me and walk right to where I can take it from you? Really?”

“You. You bastard,” Daniel seethed, struggling to free the gun.

“Ummm Daniel? Who is this guy?” Lunare asked.

“This bastard is part of a gang that mugged me this week.” Daniel said furiously. In response, Dakota hit him in the gut and let go of his gun at the same time. Daniel sailed backwards and skidded to a stop.

“I would appreciate it if you forgot about that time.” Dakota said with a hint of anger. “It would make my life a hell of a lot easier.”

He turned to leave and Daniel scrambled to his feet, gathering speed to tackle Dakota. Before he could take even two steps, two guys broke from the crowd and grabbed his arms. One of them was a Faunus with wolf ears wearing a leather jacket similar to Dakota’s. The other was in a brown duster and a Stetson.

“Slow down,” Brown duster ordered. “You rush that stallion, you’re gonna get kicked flat on your back.”

“Let, me, go!” Daniel grumbled. “I can take him.”

The wolf Faunus let out a bark of laughter. “You? Take him? He’d have you down and out before you took two more steps.”

Daniel continued to struggle. Dakota stopped and cocked his ear, hearing him struggle. “They’re right you know. Unless you want another dent on your head, I’d suggest you stop.”

Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “So you were the one who hit me in the head,” He growled.

“You stabbed a guy in the side. I didn’t like him, but he didn’t deserve to die, which he would’ve had we not rushed him to the hospital and instead stayed to fight you. Trust me- I was stopping you from doing something you would’ve regretted.”

He resumed walking and was soon absorbed by the crowd. The two holding Daniel held him for a moment longer before finally releasing him. “Sorry partner,” The one in the duster said. “I was only tryin’ to keep you from doin’ somethin’ stupid. Name’s Nick.”

Daniel looked at the wolf Faunus, but all he got out of him was a twitching of the tail before he bent down to pick up a duffel bag he had evidently dropped to stop Daniel. He walked over to join Lunare, and the two of the disappeared into the crowd.

Nick bent down and picked up the slide for Daniel’s pistol as well as the magazine and bullet, which he slid back into the magazine. Handing them to Daniel he asked “What beef did you have with that guy?”

“He and a bunch of losers mugged me because I accidentally ran into their boss.”

Nick whistled. “Sounds like a piece of work. But y’now, it didn’t sound like he was riding with them no more.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows. “You think?”

Nick shrugged. “Well, I didn’t hear much ‘till you got hit, then I started listenin’. What I did hear suggested that he’d left them.”

Daniel grabbed his sword from the ground and belted the sheath back onto his belt. “Gang or not, there’s going to be hell to pay for knocking me out.”


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Daniel and the rest of the new students lined up in a clearing near the edge of a cliff facing a valley covered in forest. Every once and a while, Daniel saw crumbling ruins poking out of the canopy, but for the most part, it was nothing but forest. When they had arrived, they had been directed to stand on tiles spaced out at regular intervals. Daniel stepped on his and felt it depress slightly. Frowning, he bounced up and down, testing it. The tile definitely had some spring to it.

Before he got a chance to test it further, Professors Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch arrived at the cliff face. The passed the students and stood before them. “Good morning,” Professor Ozpin said. “I trust that you all slept well. I certainly hope that you did, for today your skills as warriors will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest,” He said, gesturing to the forest below.

No surprise to Daniel. Mrs. Goodwitch had mentioned that they'd be going through their initiation today. He now knew that she was talking about the Emerald Forest.

Glynda Goodwitch stepped forward and continued the speech. “As many of you know, Huntsmen and Huntresses in training are put together in groups of four. These groups will live together, work together, and fight together for the next four years at Beacon.”

“Today your skills will not only be evaluated in the Emerald Forest, but your teams will be formed as well,” Ozpin said.

Glynda Goodwitch nodded. “Indeed. Once you land in the forest, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for this exercise. At the end, partners will be put together into teams of four. You will then be part of the team for the duration of your time at beacon.”

“The goal of this test is for you and your partner to make your way to a temple at the northern end of the forest. There, you will retrieve a relic from the temple and return with it.” Ozpin’s eyes traced down the line of students while seeming to linger on Daniel a bit longer than others. “For some of you this will be a simple task. Others might find it a bit harder. Whichever way you see it, make no mistake; there will be opposition along the way. You must defeat the opposition or risk failure, or death.”

Daniel swallowed nervously. Things had suddenly taken a more ominous turn.

“Now, are there any questions? Good!” Professor Ozpin said, ignoring a few raised hands. “If you would, please take your positions.”

Daniel barely had time to wonder what the professor meant by taking their positions before he learned very rudely what the springiness in the tiles was.

It happened in an instant. One moment he was standing awkwardly on the tile, the next he was flying awkwardly through the air. Flailing, he managed to get himself positioned feet first and watched the scenery below sail by. I was like a dream, he thought. Sailing though the sky like a bird. He let out a whoop of excitement. He decided he was a fan of flying.

The decision had barely crossed his mind when a horrible realization struck him. The ground was getting closer and he was still going very fast. He had no aura to protect him, no semblance to slow his fall, and he was pretty certain that neither his sword nor his pistol would be of much keeping himself in one piece.

It could get rather messy when he landed. Which would most likely be very shortly; judging by the branches that were whipping past his sneakers.

Desperately, Daniel searched for a solution. Up ahead, he noticed a tree that was slightly taller than those around it. A thick tangle of vines was growing down from the branches. Angling towards them, he spread his body out in hopes of slowing down enough for him to grab on.

It worked. Daniel crashed into the vines and he grabbed onto as many as he could. Several snapped and he felt the rest groaning and sliding against the tree. But they held, and Daniel’s forward momentum was checked. He slowly rocked back and forth on the vines until he came to a complete stop. Carefully, he slid down the vines until his feet gratefully touched the ground. He was not a fan of falling, he decided.

Daniel looked around at his surroundings. Up above the trees, the view had been picturesque. Even where he was, the extra height of the tree that had saved his life provided a decent gap in the canopy, allowing for sunlight to come through. All around him though, was a murky dark forest.

Daniel looked up at the sun to figure out which way north was just in time to see several other students sail above him, laughing as they went. It was to be expected, after all. They could afford to land harder than he could.

Drawing his sword, he broke out into a light jog and entered the forest where it seemed to be slightly less thick. As he ran, he saw signs of what was most likely the opposition Professor Ozpin spoke of.

Grimm tracks.

Daniel couldn’t tell how many there were, but it was a decently sized population- more than he felt that he could ever hope to deal with alone. To make matters worse, he saw tracks for several different types of Grimm, ranging from Ursa, to snakes, to those massive scorpions whose pictures Daniel always shuddered at. Why some all-powerful deity decided to create massive scorpions was beyond Daniel, but they were not a welcome sight.

Pondering this, Daniel almost didn’t see the Ursa until it was too late. Looking up in time, he backpedaled, scrabbling desperately for his handgun. The Ursa cocked its head curiously at Daniel and dropped the log he had been licking sap off of. That changed when Daniel finally managed to pull his pistol out and started firing rounds at the creature. Roaring, it charged Daniel, mouth dripping with sap. Having never been attacked by a Grimm before, Daniel panicked and jumped to the left out of the monster's way. As the monster barreled past him, his outstretched sword sliced a massive gash into the Ursa’s side before catching on something, a rib, Daniel guessed. The Ursa roared in pain but kept going. Daniel, suddenly found himself being flung around as his sword refused to budge. Swinging one leg onto the Ursa’s back and squeezing to gain balance; Daniel began firing rounds into the gash in its side. After exhausting a full clip, the monster finally keeled over and died.

Daniel was just getting up when he heard a voice behind him. “Curious.”

He spun around to see Lunare and Ryler standing at the edge of the clearing staring at the monster. Lunare marched up to the Grimm and peered at it. “Fascinating how the creature seemed to hesitate before attacking. In all the reports I’ve studies, I’ve never seen that kind of behavior.”

Daniel shrugged. “Must’ve been surprised that a kid would run up on it like I did.”

“Yes, perhaps it was,” Lunare mused. “Or maybe,”

“Or maybe it ate some sap out of the trees,” Ryler interjected. “Grimm are known to be sluggish after eating sap.”

Both of them stared at him. Finally Daniel spoke up. “And you know that how?”

“Well, you don’t become the world’s best plant specialist Huntsman without hitting the old books,” Ryler said proudly.

“You mean to tell me that you intend to become both a gardener and a Huntsman?” Daniel asked incredulously.

“That’s right!” Ryler beamed. “My mother was one, and since I inherited her love of plants, I figured I might as well to.”

Daniel raised his eyebrow at Lunare, silently asking if he was like this the entire time. Lunare gave a shrug in return that seemed to say “More or less.”

“Well, it was nice seeing you two, but I’ve got to get going if I’m to make it to the temple before everyone else.” Daniel announced.

Ryler gasped. “You’re right! Lunare, what are we doing just standing here? We need to get to that temple pronto!”

He started to take off, but Lunare put a restraining hand on him. Wait, why don’t you go with us Daniel? We could use the safety in numbers.”

Daniel shook his head. “Nah, I figure it’d be best if I went on my own. The bigger the party, the bigger the noise and all.”

Lunare eyed him apprehensively. “A viable point,” he said finally. “We’ll leave you to see whether it is successful or not.”

“Right! Onward Lunare!” Ryler cried out, charging into the brush.

Lunare shook his head. “That’s east Ryler!”

“I knew that!” he called back. “I’m taking the scenic route!”

Lunare sighed and took off after him. Daniel watched them go, then turned his attention to the beast that only a few moments ago, tried to kill him. Already its body was beginning to disintegrate, as all Grimm corpses do. It posed no further danger to Daniel. And yet, it seemed just as dangerous, if not more, than it did when it was breathing.

Just like Lunare, Daniel had always been told that nothing caused a Grimm to hesitate, save for stealth. And yet, this one did.

What was going on here?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks at time*   
> 11:29 PM. It's still Friday! It's still Friday! I got a chapter out on time!!

While Daniel pondered his conundrum, just over a springboard launch away, Professors Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch stood consulting a tablet. The screen showed aerial video from several drones that were monitoring the student’s progress. All the students had videos available that the two readily watched, but there was one that was maximized to take up a good half of the screen.

“Curious,” Ozpin mused, stairing at a live feed of Daniel Grigio looking at the dead Grimm he had just slayed. “Unlike the others, Young Daniel has chosen to walk alone.”

“He’s must be very confident in his abilities, or prefer to work alone.” Glynda said. “Either way, he is a fool.”

“Don’t be too harsh on him,” Ozpin admonished. “He did just take down a fully grown Ursa.”

Glynda sniffed. “If he really is capable of becoming a Huntsman, we both know that fighting an Ursa is nothing.”

“Yes, but for now he is still learning. And for many, taking down any Grimm is an achievement by itself.”

Glynda Goodwitch nodded with grudging consent and returned to the scroll. Minimizing the window with Daniel in it, she enlarged the other windows to compensate. Each one showed pairs of students making their way through the forest. “It would appear, sir, that all of the pairs have been formed, save for Mr. Grigio.”

“Oh, and who is the other remaining single student?” Professor Ozpin asked.

Glynda scanned through the videos, but once again, each feed apart from Daniel’s showed pairs.

“I’m afraid that I am unable to locate the final student.”

“And that would be?” Ozpin asked, without even a hint of alarm in his voice as he took a sip of coffee.

Glynda scanned the names of the students once more before looking up. “A boy; Dakota.”

@0@0@

Dakota stood over the sparking hunk of metal that was, up until recently, the drone following him. He had sensed it following him a while back, and had finally located it only moment ago. Rewrapping his chain around his right arm, he reached to a pouch hanging from his belt and after checking the contents of the pouch, latched it shut. Dakota could understand why the Headmaster wanted to keep an eye on him and the other students, but Dakota had grown up where true privacy was extremely rare. Normally he tried to avoid combat unless it was absolutely necessary, but he valued his privacy over morals of not fighting. Being watched when you didn't want to be watched was a serious violation of his personal code.

And Dakota never wanted to be watched.

He was turning to continue on the thin path that followed a cliff that seemed to turn towards the temple, when a voice cried out behind him. He turned to see the sandal-clad hippie, and the cowboy jogging towards him.

“Dude!” the hippie called. “It’s like, so cool to see you man. It’s like the spirits are guiding us towards each other. It’s destiny man!”

“And, you are?” Dakota asked, having never seen the person before.

“My name is Lewis. Lewis Lemon. And this is my very good friend Nicholas Brown.”

“Ochre, actually,” Nicholas corrected. “But you can just call me Nick.”

“Now that we know our names, would you grace us with yours man?” Lewis asked.

“Dakota. Just Dakota.”

“Well, Just Dakota, how ‘bout commin’ with us ‘till you get your partner?” Nick asked.

Dakota weighed his options. He didn’t like the feel of getting involved with another group, but he figured safety in numbers was, for the time, his best bet. Besides, he'd be part of another before the day was out. Might as well get use to it.

Dakota was just beginning to nod, when a Death Stalker crashed through the forest in front of them. It screeched at them and scuttled in their direction.

Dakota slid his chain off his arm and reached into his pouch, but Nick and Lewis stepped in front of him, blocking his view.

“Don’t kill it, we can use it for a ride,” Nick ordered. Lewis nodded and unslung his guitar and after adjusting the whammy bar, began strumming. Nick reached into his coat and drew a revolver. The Death Stalker continued to charge, but was suddenly halted by a wall of green energy. The Grimm screeched and pounded on the shield, but was unable to get through.

Lewis smiled at this and cried “Rock and Roll man!” before readjusting the whammy bar and letting loose a series of intense guitar riffs. Waves of the same green energy burst out of the guitar and bashed into the Death Stalker. The creature reared back and snapped at the waves with his claws. It managed to catch one, only for the wave to expand with a simple adjustment of one of the knobs on Lewis' guitar, snapping the claw apart. Meanwhile, Nick was pulling a cartridge out of his revolver and replacing it with a pale blue one. He then turned the cylinder so his new bullet lay in front of the hammer, took aim, and fired. It struck the stinger and immediately, frost spread over the deadly appendage. Lewis charged the Death Stalker and hit a chord that gave him a boost into the air, enough to come face to face with the frozen stinger. He pulled his guitar off of his shoulder and slammed it into the stinger, shattering it into a thousand crystal shards.

“Dude, that’s got to be, like, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Lewis called out as he landed past the Death Stalker. “I knew listening to the spirits to come here was a good idea.”

Nick rolled his eyes and jogged up to the Death Stalker. The Grimm tried to attack him, but without any pincers or stingers, it was quite the difficult job. Ignoring the failed attacks, Nick jumped up onto the back of the Death Stalker and placed his hand on its back. The Grimm gave a roar of anguish before quieting down. Nick looked up at Dakota and Lewis and smiled. “Y’all can come over now,” he called out. “She’s quiet as can be.”

Lewis cheered and scrambled up onto the creature’s back, behind Nick. Dakota followed, albeit with a bit more caution.

“This here’s my semblance.” Nick explained to Dakota as he noticed his apprehension. “As long as I’m touchin’ the Grimm, they listen to me. So long as I’m on her, she ain’t gonna cause us no trouble.”

“Dudes!” Lewis called out. “I can feel it. This is, like, the start of a great friendship that will last us forever. I should make a song about it.”

He launched into a few chords and began singing a song about how the spirits had brought them together. Nick shook his head and patted the Death Stalker, who immediately took off towards the temple was. Dakota prayed that it wasn't that far. He wasn’t a fan of Lewis’ singing.

@0@0@

Daniel burst through the foliage and into a clearing, resting his eyes on the temple after what seemed like forever. It was a stone circle surrounded by a wall that for the most part, was intact. A doorway led into a chamber where Daniel could see multiple pedestals, some holding some sort of artifact. Grinning, he burst out of the foliage and charged into the ruin. He couldn’t believe his luck! He had made it all the way to the ruins without anyone’s help.

He was nearing the entrance when out of nowhere, he felt a searing pain in his arms and his feet left the ground. Looking up, he saw that he was in the grasp of a Nevermore. Desperately, he tried to wiggle free, but the Nevermore had a firm grip on his jacket and he couldn’t get free of it. The ground spiraled away and Daniel was beginning to despair that karma was getting him for all the fried chicken he had eaten throughout his short sixteen years when a loud _BANG_ sounded from the forest and a figure launched itself into the sky and arced upwards to meet the Nevermore head on. It was the wolf faunus from before.

The Faunus latched onto the Nevermore’s face with his feet and reached into a pocket, bringing out a pair of knuckledusters. He pulled them on and depressed a switch, causing three claws per knuckleduster to telescope out. He began viciously clawing the Nevermore’s face, attacking anything in sight. The bird shrieked and let go of Daniel. Daniel, being high up and without any nearby vines to grab onto, screamed as well. Up above, the shrieking of the Nevermore abruptly stopped.

The ground was rushing towards him when a tune began playing and his downward momentum was slowed. Surprised, he looked up to see Lewis standing on a floating barge of green energy next to Daniel, strumming his guitar. “Dude, you nearly became a splatter painting.”

“Yeah, that’s really great. Can we get down now?” Daniel asked, slightly shriller than normal. “I think I’ve had enough falling for the day.”

“Whatever floats your spirit man.” Lewis replied. He adjusted a knob on the guitar and the barge slowly began to sink until it was a meter above the ground. Lewis pulled the whammy bar back and the barge dissipated. Daniel hit the ground and groaned, struggling to get up. A hand clad in a fingerless glove came into his vision and he took it gratefully. As he began to rise, a voice asked. “What the hell were you doing on your own?” Hearing this voice, Daniel desperately shut his eyes. Now way was he going to be partnered with him.

“What are you doing now?” Dakota asked.

Ignoring him, Daniel swiveled around and opened his eyes. Nick and Lewis were going into the temple while a mutilated Death Stalker slowly decomposed outside. He took off towards the temple, but had barely taken a step before his feet were kicked out from under him and he fell face first onto the ground. He was spun around and had to close his eyes rapidly once more before Dakota’s face came into view.

“Enough Grigio,” Dakota commanded. “I don't like it any more than you do, but we’re a team now.”

“No, we’re not!” Daniel growled, struggling to get free. “I, never, made, eye contact, with you,” he said with every twist.

Dakota gave a mirthless laugh. “Do you actually think that matters anymore? I’ve seen all the other groups. You and I, we’re the last pair.”

“You good over there?” Another voice called out. Turning his head, Daniel opened his eyes to see the Faunus running over to them, his boots and belt smoking slightly.

“Nothing to see here Schatten,” Dakota called back, evidently having learned the faunus' name earlier. “Just trying to convince this idiot that we’re a team now.”

Taking Dakota’s moment of distraction, Daniel kneed him in the gut and shoved him off. Scrambling to his knees, Daniel continued towards the temple.

“Dammit Grigio, what was that for?” Dakota yelled after him.

“I’m not on your team, and I never will be,” Daniel called over his shoulder. “Going solo would be better than working with a gang member”

“That’s not how it works!” Dakota called out after him. Ignoring him once more, Daniel strode towards the temple entrance where Nick and Lewis were conversing about something. He had just reached the archway when half of the temple caved in and something from behind threw Daniel across the room and into the opposing wall. His head struck the stone, and he slid down, dazed and half blind from blood seeping out of a wound in his forehead. Blearily he saw that the wall he had been next to had caved in and partially covered a Boarbatusk that had steamrolled into the wall. Nick pulled out his pistol and with a flick of his wrist, it changed into a knife. Before the Grimm could stand back up, Nicholas yanked its head to the side and plunged the knife deep into the neck. The Grimm shuddered once, and was still. Nick withdrew the knife and after wiping it on the Grimm’s fur, flicked it back into gun form and stuck it into the folds of his duster. Lewis reached down and grabbed Daniel by the shoulder and placed him in an upright position. “Man, you hit your head pretty hard. But don’t worry man. Last time I hit my head I went on a spirit journey and came back to the world with the knowledge that I should come here to Beacon.”

Lewis then cocked his head as if listening to something. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small tin. He reached in and sprinkled something on his cut. Immediately, the wound numbed, followed by a slight dizziness. “Dude, the spirits just told me to help you and that we would need _your_ help very, very soon.”

“Oh God,” Daniel moaned as he realized what Lewis had just put on his cut. “Please don’t let me trip out.”

Lewis shushed him before tearing a strip off of his tie dye shirt and wrapping it around the cut and stop the bleeding. “Don’t worry man. The spirits don’t need you right now. They said maybe some other time.”

Despite being almost certain he had just been drugged, Daniel was surprised to find that the pain was almost gone and he was still in control of his senses. He was stumbling to his feet when a roar emanated from the woods as well over a dozen Grimm appeared out of the woods. The students still in the clearing frantically pulled out their weapons and took positions, ready to attack.

Lewis turned to Daniel, a wide grin on his face. “See, I told you we’d need your help. The spirits never lie man!”


	8. Chapter 8

The first Grimm to attack was another Boarbatusk, slightly smaller than the one that had attacked the temple. It spun directly towards the temple, but was easily taken out by Schatten, who tackled it and cut its neck into neat sections with his claws.

The head had barely hit the ground when a massive Ursa lumbered towards the group. Lunare faced it and pulled out a long rectangular from his trench coat. He depressed a trigger and it folded out to a staff with blades protruding from the sides near the ends. Spinning it in his hand, he ducked under the first swing of the Ursa’s massive paw and slashed into the Grimm’s side, while at the same time unfolding a pistol grip, unleashing a hail of gunfire into the Ursa. The Grimm roared and backed away, but Lunare, holding the staff underneath his arm, let loose another hail of gunfire, before breaking the staff apart at the middle and dropping a belt of ammunition down the hollow tube inside. By then, the Ursa had regained its courage and was lumbering towards Lunare once more. Lunare pushed his glasses up and, rammed one of the business ends through the jaw of the Ursa. Somehow still alive, the bear tried to continue forward, but Lunare planted the other blade into the earth as support, and fired the fresh belt into the skull of the Ursa, finally ending it.

As Lunare pulled his staff out of the twitching corpse of the Ursa, the rest of the horde attacked, forcing other students to fight in groups, or as individuals to combat the threat. Tiberius, who until that point had been hanging behind the rest, sighed and fixed his dress tie while pulling a massive white chakram from his back. As a King Taijitu launched itself at him, he split the chakram into two width-wise and threw both of them at the black head. They severed the head in one fluid motion and spun off into the forest. Tiberius reached out a hand and the chakrams swerved back to their owner, but not before cutting down the other head along with a few smaller Grimm in the way.

Realizing a direct approach wouldn’t work, several Grimm broke off from the fighting and began circling around the ruins, looking for a way in. Lunare noticed this and, pushing up his glasses, called out “Ryler! Keep them from circling around!”

“You got it!” Ryler called back. He unslung what appeared to be a grenade launcher with a knife fused onto the rear from his back and fired shells towards the Grimm. The landed midst the Grimm and exploded, spewing out a green noxious smoke that caused the Grimm to rear back and paw at in an attempt to get rid of it. Having incapacitated them for a moment, Ryler reached into his jacket and withdrew a seed pouch. He scuffed a quick hole in the ground with his shoe and buried the pouch and covered it up. He pressed down hard with both hands and vines sprung from the ground. They raced towards the clouds of green gas and began growing at an insane rate. Within mere moments, the Grimm had been cut off by a shifting wall of vines.

Tiberius sniffed the air and dry heaved at the smell. “Dear Lord, what did you put in those things?”

“Fertilizer!” Ryler exclaimed proudly. “It’s my own special blend. I made it for quickly growing plants from seeds.”

“Ryler was explaining their function to me as we ran here.” Lunare explained. “If what he says is true, those Grimm will find it rather hard to get through.”

As if to mock this bold claim, the vines began to immediately wither and die. Beyond their dying husks, the eyes of even more Grimm stared out at them with a hungry glow.

“Or the vines could react negatively to the fertilizer, causing their systems to shut down,” Lunare retracted.

“No, it’s even worse,” Ryler said, tears streaking down his face. “The seeds expired on my watch!” he cried out in anguish.

Schatten rolled his eyes and stood guard over the distraught gardener, baring his teeth and growling at any Grimm that dared to come near.

Daniel tried to get out of the ruins to fight, but was restrained by Nick. “Nothin’ you can do in your state that they can’t do.” Nick said calmly. “Best to let us do the fightin’ now.”

Daniel shrugged the restraining hand from his shoulder and pulled out his pistol. He stepped over the ruined wall and walked directly past Dakota, who was crouched. “Don’t think I’m going to be part of your group” he muttered as he walked past. As he neared the Grimm line, he steadily increased his pace until he was at a full sprint towards the largest looking Ursa of the bunch. Once again, the creature did not attack him. A reason for this behavior was forming in Daniel’s mind, but he pushed it aside. Right now, he needed his full concentration on the situation at hand.

He clambered to the top of the Ursa and balanced himself as the surprised creature tried to shake him off. He steadied his hand and began taking potshots at the other Grimm. They sparked off bony white armor or caused minor wounds for the most part, but got the other Grimm’s attention. They began turning from the human prey and began advancing on the massive Ursa. Seeing them advance, Daniel slid off the Ursa and scrambled to the side as they began fighting the Ursa. In doing so, they landed hits on each other as well. In mere moments, the vast majority of the Grimm were fighting each other.

Lewis whooped and raced out of the ruins and wrapped Daniel in a bear hug. “Dude! I like, totally knew you were going to do that!”

“Impressive,” Lunare commented, pushing his glasses up. “Using the Grimm’s natural urges to assert their dominance of a certain territory to create a brawl of unprecedented scale was, innovative.”

“Yeah, that’s great. Can you please get Lewis to let go now?” Daniel asked, his ribs noticeably groaning under Lewis’ surprisingly strong embrace.”

As Lunare tried to pry Lewis off of Daniel, Schatten called over to them. “That’s all very said and good, but we’re not out of the creek yet” he said, pointing towards the Grimm.

Daniel followed his finger to see that he was right. While many of the Grimm were either dead or fighting to the death, at least half a dozen remained. And all of them were massive, giving Daniel a clue as to their age, and there for their cunning.

Dakota sighed and unslung his chain from his arm. He reached into the pouch set on his belt and Daniel could hear the faint sounds of vials clinking together. There was a breaking sound, and Dakota groaned and bent over, falling to one knee. Sensing a weakness, the Grimm howled and charged towards the crouching figure. At the last moment, Dakota unsteadily got to his feet and lashed out with the chain. As it sailed through the air, it glowed red hot and left a fiery trail through the air. In one clean sweep, he bisected a Beowulf lengthwise and spun it around to cut the tail of a Death Stalker off. The tail fell and lodged the stinger into the Death Stalker’s head, killing it instantly.

As the Death Stalker collapsed to the ground, a pair of Nevermore dive bombed him throwing feather-spear as they fell. He reached into the pouch and broke something else. His knees buckled, but he managed to stay upright this time and spin the chain around. Icy air blasted from the chains and froze the feathers solid whereupon contact with the ground or chain, they shattered into thousands of tiny crystals. The Nevermores themselves struggled to remain stable as frost coated their wings. They spun off course and crashed next to Dakota, who dispatched them both with his pipe. The remaining two Beowulves charged but were stopped by Ryler and his grenades. This time, the grenades released a light pink gas that caused the Grimm to stumble and sway. Ryler threw down more seeds which grew up in a massive wave with Ryler on the top. As the vines withered and died, Ryler fell towards the Beowulves, the knife end of his grenade launcher pointed towards them. They didn’t stand a chance.

Rewinding his chain, Dakota turned and made his way towards the temple, limping slightly as he went. Not wanting him Dakota to beat him there, Daniel past him and reached it first. Inside, several pedestals stood while a handful had toppled when the Boarbatusk had crashed through. Scattered on the pedestals and on the ground were gold and silver weapons. Daniel spied a gold dagger lying in the rubble and moved the stone blocks out of the way so he could get to it. Grabbing it, he sidestepped out of the way as Lewis scrambled in and excitedly pulled a matching silver dagger off of a pedestal. Daniel watched as the rest of the groups filed in and took weapons off of the pedestals, or scrounged around in the rubble for any that may’ve been buried. Eventually, the only ones left in the temple were Daniel and Dakota.

“Looks like you lose gangster,” Daniel called over his shoulder as he walked past him. “Enjoy coming back next year.”

“Do you really think that this stupid plan of yours is going to work?” Dakota asked. “Like it or not, Professor Ozpin will see us as partners and group us together.”

“Or I can just go at it solo,” Daniel replied. “It’s not like I haven’t done that before.”

“And all it did for you was get you knocked out,” Dakota argued. “And I’m really starting to get annoyed that you keep bringing up that I was in a gang. I’m telling you I’ve left that behind me, and I’d appreciate it if you did so as well.”

Daniel stepped over a rubble pile and sidestepped a Boarbatusk's decomposing corpse. “Doubtful.” He called out over his shoulder. He strode across the ruins and back into the woods, pausing only to note with some curiosity that despite no one besides him getting injured, here and there he could find droplets of bright red blood in the grass.

@0@0@

The trek back to the cliff where the Professors waited was a jovial one with brief pauses in the cheer when an occasional Grimm would decide to attack. Students walked for the most part with their pairs but occasionally split off to chat with someone from another group. They walked through the forest for about an hour before finally arriving at a clearing where Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch were waiting in front of a set of stairs that zig-zagged up the cliff face.

Professor Ozpin gave each pair a brief nod as they passed him and began climbing up the stairs. Eventually, the only people left were Daniel, Dakota, Lewis, and Nick.

“Daniel Grigio,” Ozpin began, “In all my time as headmaster at Beacon, I have never seen someone so vehemently opposed to joining a team with fellow students.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to be in a team sir,” Daniel said. “It’s that I don’t want to be with him.” He gestured behind him in the general direction of Dakota.

“And why exactly is that?” Ozpin asked.

“Well for starters-”

“Sir, he and I had a disagreement about a week before coming to Beacon.” Dakota answered, cutting Daniel off. “He got into a situation that I felt he was handling incorrectly and so I was forced to take measures against him.”

“You hit me on the head, and the thugs you were with stole my stuff!” Daniel shot back angrily.

“Indeed,” Ozpin said, sipping from his mug. “Well, I regret to inform you that you will not be allowed out of the forest until your team has recovered a relic.”

“But I have recovered a relic. It’s right here!” Daniel protested, showing the golden dagger he had retrieved.

“You have retrieved a relic, but your team has not.” Ozpin replied, a firmness creeping into his voice. “As Huntsman and Huntresses, we must be able and willing to work together at any time with anyone. One Huntsman might be able to destroy a hundred Grimm, but a hundred Grimm can destroy a Huntsman.” He turned and started walking up the stairs before turning back and looking at Lewis and Nick. “Could I trust you two to keep them safe?” He called out.

Lewis sprung to attention and saluted Ozpin. “We will totally protect them from all harm sir.” Nick merely nodded and touched two fingers to the brim of his hat before sitting down on a nearby boulder and pulling out his revolver to clean it.

Professor Goodwitch looked at the four. “It would be prudent for you to make a team before nighttime” she said. “The Grimm become more active at night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate my calc 2 professor  
> I hate that I can't do calc 2  
> I hate that Engineers need calc 2  
> I hate that calc 2 is a thing that exists as a concept  
> At least it's a better concept than middle school, am I right?
> 
> In all seriousness though, I'm sorry I keep forgetting these chapters. Life is not exactly fun for me right now. I can't promise this won't happen again, but I can try and be more diligent in the future. 
> 
> Now if anyone has any connections to a math deity or something, please have them do me a solid around 8 AM EST on Wednesday. Or just have them incinerate my professor. That would work too. I'm honestly fine with either or at this point.


	9. Chapter 9

Daniel sat on a rock, facing away from Dakota, who leaned motionless against a tree, staring right at him. Nick was still cleaning his revolver while Lewis quietly played a tune on his guitar.

Dakota was the first to break the silence. “You do realize that there’s no getting out of this now, right?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Daniel replied dismissively.

Dakota sighed. “At first I somewhat understood your reasons not to look at me, but at this point it’s just childish.”

“Well, maybe I want to act like a child,” Daniel said irritably. “Did you ever think of that?”

“Alright, listen Grigio,” Dakota growled. “I’m tired, I’m hot, and I’m hungry. I want to satisfy those needs as quickly as possible and your stubbornness is the only thing in my way. So what the hell do I have to do to get you to turn around and look at me?”

“Well for starters, give me back my stuff that you and your friends took,” Daniel replied angrily. “I don’t care that it was dirty, I don’t care it was torn, what I care about is that it was all I had and you took it!”

“I didn’t touch your backpack,” Dakota said. “And even if I did, I doubt you’d want it back. Vladimir had one of his goons toss it in the sewer after he was finished with you.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “That’s just great. It really warms my heart to know that my only chance of becoming a Huntsman has friends with no respect to others personal property.”

“Will you stop calling them my friends?!” Dakota yelled. “They are not my friends! They never were!”

“Then why were you hanging out with them?” Daniel asked. “Because that’s what it looked like to me.”

there was a flurry of footsteps behind Daniel. He began turning around when two arms wrapped themselves around his neck and threw him through the air. Daniel hit Dakota's tree with a small explosion of fire, knocking the tree down and leaving a splintery stump behind.

Daniel groaned and began to stand up when a muddy boot planted itself on his back. Daniel winced as wooden splinters jabbed into his skin, and Dakota leaned in and whispered fiercely to Daniel. “I’m getting really tired of repeating myself so listen very closely this time. I ‘hung out’ with those people not because I was friends with them, but out of pure necessity. I didn’t get the life most people got. Most of Vladimir’s goons had halfway decent home lives. All I got was an orphanage and a jailed serial killer for a mother. I don’t know what you got, but I’d like to see it top that.”

“I, you, what?” Daniel asked, the anger instantly disappearing from his voice. He didn’t know what he had expected Dakota’s life story to be, but it certainly wasn’t that.

“What? Run out of snide comments?” Dakota jeered.

“No, not that,” Daniel murmured.

“Then what is it?” Dakota asked, digging his foot into Daniel’s back even harder.

“I just, never thought that I’d come across someone with a worse life than me,” Daniel said through clenched teeth as the elbow hit a particularly painful bruise from his beating several days ago.

The pressure released immediately as Dakota stood up. He retreated to the rock and leaned against it. “Alright then, talk,” Dakota demanded. “What made your life so miserable that you felt you had the crappiest life in all of Remnant?”

Daniel got to his knees and turned around. For the first time, he got a good look at his adversary. Dakota was slightly smaller and stockier than Daniel. Unlike Schatten’s leather jacket, which was well maintained, his black leather jacket was in about as good of condition as Daniel’s denim jacket, and his dark jeans had holes in them. A faint stubble sprinkled his face. What got Daniel the most were the eyes. They were cold and dark, yet also filled with pain and suffering. They were the exact same eyes Daniel saw every time he looked into the mirror.

“I’m still waiting, you know,” Dakota mentioned. “You still haven’t told me your story.”

“Hit me,” Daniel said.

“What?” Dakota asked, an eyebrow arching up.

“Hit me Goddammit!” Daniel demanded. His outburst was rewarded by Dakota launching himself off of his tree and hitting Daniel with a left hook. Daniel slammed hard against the stump, cutting his cheek open as he slid to the ground.

“Okay, I’ve hit you. Now will you tell me who the hell you are?” Dakota demanded.

“Have you felt, uneasy, around me?” Daniel panted, wincing at the pain and holding his hand to his cheek.

Dakota shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. What’s it to you?”

Daniel smiled mirthlessly. “I’m not surprised. Most people do, considering my condition.”

“That condition being?”

Daniel looked Dakota in the eyes. “I can’t generate an Aura.”

Dakota blinked, then shrugged. “Okay then.”

“Okay then? I just admitted to being a freak of nature and all you have to say is ‘okay then?’” Dakota asked incredulously. He expected something else. He had expected Dakota to shun him, cuss him out, possibly hit him again. Certainly not shrug and accept it.

“We live in a world with half human, half animals, magical crystals that have all sorts of powers, and creatures that disintegrate upon death and are hell bent on destroying the previous two things, along with humans. Not having a soul is one of the easier things to believe.” Dakota replied simply. “Although, I can see why not having a soul would make other people hate you.”

“It’s not that I don’t have a soul,” Daniel corrected, “It’s that I can’t generate an aura. The doctors can’t tell if I have one or not.”

“Considering your hair color, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Dakota commented with a hint of amusement.

“Hey! At least I have a bit of color besides black, black, and more black!” Daniel shot back, commenting on Dakota’s choice of attire and his own hair.

“At least I won’t get a third degree burn whenever I step through a sunbeam.”

Daniel shoved Dakota, but it was out of amusement and not of anger. “Shut up man. I don’t need that from you.”

“Then put on sunscreen next time.” Dakota said. “Your neck is lobster red.”

Daniel was about to compose a reply when his neck began to feel like it was cooking. He felt his neck to find that Dakota was correct.

The corners of Dakota’s mouth twitched. “Need some aloe vera?”

Daniel crossed his arms, his face turning as red as his neck. “Just shut up.” He said.

The look on Daniel’s face sent Dakota off the end. He tried to fight it, but quickly succumbed to raucous laughter.

“It’s not funny!” Daniel argued, fighting down laughter himself.

After a minute, Dakota stopped. “Oh God, I needed that.” He said, wiping a tear from his eye.

This was followed by several minutes of awkward silence as the two former foes sat awkwardly. Finally Daniel spoke up. “Hey, Dakota?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry for being an asshole.”

“You were a bit of an asshole,” Dakota commented. After a moment, he asked, “Are you done being an asshole?”

“Yeah.”

Dakota stood and offered a hand to Daniel. “Then I accept your apology.”

Daniel took the hand and was pulled into a standing position. “Hey, if you can, don’t tell the others about my condition.”

“Why’s that?” Dakota asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don't want them to treat me differently,” Daniel answered. “You I trust, seeing how we’ve both had rough childhoods. But them, I just don’t know. I don’t know if they’ll be like you, or treat me like I’m some sort of monster, or worse, something fragile seeing how I can’t protect myself with an Aura.”

Dakota shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what they think. You heard Professor Ozpin. We have to be able to work together. And part of that means trusting each other with information. It’s up to you, but if I were in your shoes, I’d tell them. They seem nice enough not to hold it against you.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You, you actually think so?”

Dakota shrugged once more. “You’ll only know if you try. Besides, they both saw you today. You’re no weakling.”

Daniel considered his statement. Dakota had a point. Chances are, the four of them would end up in a team together. It’d be stupid to hold something back that important. Standing up, he made his way towards Nicholas and Lewis. Seeing him advancing, Nicholas snapped his revolver back together and stood up. “’Bout time you two finished up.” He said. “Sun’s getting’ mighty low. We’d best git goin’ 'fore the Grimm show up again.”

Daniel nodded in concession and the four of them started up the stairs in complete silence, save for Lewis, who was strumming a tune on his guitar. Halfway up, Daniel turned to Nick and Lewis. “Hey guys, there’s something-”

Lewis stopped playing and held up a finger. “Sound carries man. We heard every word.”

Daniel froze in his tracks, fear coursing through him. Here was the moment of truth. The moment when he found out how his future teammates felt about his condition.

The moment never came. Without another word, Lewis turned back to his guitar and continued strumming. Confused, Daniel turned to Nicholas to seek answers. Nicholas merely smiled and touched two fingers to the brim of his hat.

After that exchange, no further words were spoken while they climbed the stairs. And yet, an understanding had been reached. For better or for worse, they were a team now.

@0@0@

Daniel, Dakota, Lewis, and Nicholas raced down the hallway. They had arrived at Beacon, only to learn that the ceremony was already underway. Not knowing how far it had already progressed, Daniel prayed that they weren’t too late. Or that they wouldn’t make fools out of themselves.

They threw open the door and raced to the backstage. Several security personnel held up hands and they skidded to a stop.

“You kids the ones Ozpin said would be late?” The head guard asked. Without waiting for an answer, he handed Daniel a rag and a bandage to help the still bleeding cut on his cheek and motioned to where they were supposed to wait. On a screen bolted to the wall, they could see Ozpin on stage with Lunare, Schatten, Tiberius, and Ryler.

“Lunare Nacht, Schatten Schwartz, Tiberius Blanc, Ryler Merriweather.” Professor Ozpin announced. “The four of you retrieved the Trident from the temple. From this day forward, you shall be known as Team Luster, led by Lunare Nacht.” Behind them, their names faded from a massive screen leaving only the first initials. They shifted into place to form the word LSTR. A glittering stone sat behind the letters. The crowd cheered as Ryler attempted to jump-hug Lunare. Tiberius graced Lunare with a single nod. Schatten offered him his fist, and they fist bumped.

Eventually, the cheer died down and the newly formed team LSTR left the stage. Tense, Daniel led the four to the stage, feeling everyone’s eyes on him. This had to have been the largest amount of people focused on him at one time. He wondered if they’d react at all to him. Surprisingly, apart from some murmurings about the bandage on his cheek, the crowd was silent.

“Daniel Grigio, Dakota Harding, Lewis Lemon, Nicholas Ochre,” Professor Ozpin announced, “The four of you retrieved the dagger from the temple. Although, I have been told that as of today, it hardly resembles a temple anymore.” He said with a slight smile. The crowd laughed and Daniel could feel the back of his neck burning with embarrassment and sunburn. “Nonetheless, you have in fact retrieved an artifact and bonded together as a team. Henceforth, you shall be known as team,” Daniel gulped, wondering what team name Professor Ozpin could come up with that used their names. Or more importantly, who would lead them?

“Dandelion. Led by Daniel Grigio.”

Dakota swore under his breath as the crowd went wild. Daniel whipped his head around to see their initials forming DDLN with the form of the flower behind it.

“Of all the names he could’ve chosen, he chose Dandelion?” Dakota muttered.

Daniel didn’t hear him. He was too shocked to register anything. He was on a stage. In front of hundreds, if not thousands of people.

And they were cheering for him.

Slowly, a grin crept onto his face. He raised his fists, and pumped them into the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uggghhh. So sorry about this to anyone who's paying attention to this. Somehow this didn't get posted. Seriously sorry.


	10. Chapter 10

The newly formed Team DDLN wearily made their way down the corridor to their assigned room. Between being launched off of a cliff and fighting hordes of Grimm, it had been a long day.

“Here it is,” Daniel announced when they reached their assigned dorm. He fished out a key and used it to open the door. Just like the room he had spent several nights in while waiting for his application, it was bare to the bones with just four beds and desks, and a bookshelf. The only difference was that this room’s beds had mattresses and made up beds. Lewis pushed past the other three and stumbled towards one of the middle beds; barely reaching it before collapsing in a heap and immediately beginning to snore.

“I guess he’s chosen his bed.” Daniel remarked. “Dibs on the far left,” the far left being the farthest bed from Lewis’ snoring.

Dakota shrugged and chose the one to Lewis’ left as well. He pulled off his jacket and threw it on the chair for the desk next to his bed. Nicholas shoved the mattress off of the remaining bed began stringing up a hammock from the bedposts.

“You actually prefer a hammock to a mattress??” Dakota asked incredulously.

“Give me hard ground or give me a hammock.” Nicholas replied. “That’s how I sleep at home, that’s how I sleep here.”

Dakota shrugged, but did not pursue the matter. He instead elected to grab his toiletries and make claim to the bathroom.

That left Daniel to unpack his belongings. He pulled his jacket off and threw it at the base of his bed. His gun was placed on his desk, and his belt along with his sword was hung by the bedpost.

His unpacking had taken exactly twelve seconds.

Coming out of the bathroom after a few minutes, Dakota eyed Daniel’s meager belongings with raised eyebrows. Everyone else had at least some sort of bag of items; a shoulder bag for Nicholas, a tie die backpack for Lewis, and a beat-up army duffel bag for himself.

“Is that really all you’ve got?” He asked.

“No, but judging from the location of the rest of my stuff, I’m content with what I have thank you very much.” Daniel replied, although this time there wasn't a single hint of malice in his voice.

Dakota’s brow furrowed for a moment, then realized what Daniel was talking about. “Fair enough. Our uniforms are in the closet, and you should be able to get most things from the school. Anything else, I can get for you.”

Daniel nodded smiled, touched by Dakota’s generosity. “Thanks man,” he said.

“Granted, you might not want to be seen in public with some of it,” Dakota mentioned, completely spoiling the moment. “I doubt that the people I get it off of would be happy it’s missing.”

“You know, when one leaves a gang, they usually try to distance themselves from crime,” Daniel mentioned.

“Think of it less of a crime, and more of a mandatory donation to those less fortunate than the donor,” Dakota replied.

Daniel sighed and shook his head, but didn't argue the point further. While he had never outright stolen from people, he had acquired items from time to time by digging through donation bins when no one was looking. Instead, he kicked off his shoes and socks and was about to swing himself onto the bed, when he felt something cold and sharp under his foot. Curious, he reached down to see what it was. It was a shard of a credit card that whoever cleaned the dorms had evidently missed.

The exact same credit card he had used to open a locked window and enter a dorm while waiting for his application to be approved.

@0@0@

The sun was shining brightly by the time Daniel finally got up. He would've preferred to sleep in further, but through the haze of being half asleep, he overheard his teammates about to wake him up on their own. Groaning, he rolled out of bed, falling undignified to the floor as he missed the desk. “For the record, I hate all three of you right now,” Daniel mentioned. “I was dreaming I was helping X-ray and Vav save the city. And you ruined it.”

“And you nearly ruined our first day,” Dakota countered. “Classes start soon, let's go.”

Daniel waved him off. “Just give me a minute,” he said deliriously. “I gotta figure out how to stand again.”

Lewis, eager to help, slid his guitar onto his back and grabbed a protesting Daniel underneath the arms. Planting his feet firmly on the ground, he heaved his leader to a standing, albeit shaky, position. The instant he let go, Daniel's legs gave out and he was forced to grab his chair for support.

“Thanks Lewis, that really helped.” Daniel said sarcastically as the rest of his team cracked up at their leader's mishaps.

“But in all seriousness, we’ve got five minutes before classes start.” Dakota mentioned once more.

Daniel’s eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet. He ripped open the shared closet and pulled out the uniform that had been placed there before they arrived late last night. Donning it in mere seconds, he grabbed his weapons and made a furious dash out the door. His teammates, having finished with their laughter, took off behind him.

Daniel felt they could make good time until he saw that the elevator was out of order. They could take the stairs, but those were on the other side of the building. Searching for a solution, Daniel turned and raced back to their dormitory. His teammates parted with surprise as their leader dove into the room they had just exited with such haste.

Daniel ran to the windows and flung them open. He knew from his time climbing the walls that there was an awning directly below him. Dropping down, he bounced off of it and stumbled to the ground. The rest of Team DDLN got to the window just in time to see him take off once more. Shrugging, they to used Daniel’s method of escape and were soon in hot pursuit.

@0@0@

“The topic of today’s discussion, ladies and gentlemen, is emergency field first aide.” Professor Glas announced, drawing a large first aide symbol on the blackboard. “Now, I know that many of you will simply brush this lesson off. I can even hear your complaints right now. We don’t need to know first aide Professor Glas, we have our aura to protect us! And you are correct. Your aura is your first line of defense; at least I hope so. Key phrase there; first line. Not the only line; that would be idiotic at best, hazardous to all those around you at worst. Nor is it your primary line; that would be not getting hit in the first place. So tell me, what happens when the aura runs out? Mr. Merriweather, would you be

willing to enlighten us?”

“Well sir, once our aura runs out, we begin to take damage we normally wouldn’t.” Ryler said.

“Exactly! Let me tell you children; I have taught several years here at Beacon, and I constantly get letters from former students telling me how first aide has saved their life, a comrade’s life, or a civilian’s life. And can you guess which of those three I hear about the most, Mr. Ochre?”

Nicholas, who had been lightly dozing with his hat down over his eyes looked up and answered. “I’m apologize sir, but I don’t believe I heard the question correctly.”

“Never mind son, although I’d appreciate it if you paid a bit more attention to my lesson. The answer class, is civilian. Many do not have an activated aura, or do but it is weaker compared to others, and are therefore unable to protect themselves except in extreme cases. Whether it be something as simple as applying a bandage on a little girl’s elbow, or preventing a thirty six year old farmer from bleeding out from a laceration in their side from a Boarbatusk horn, over eighty percent of cases will you will encounter will involve a civilian. Now with that being said, I do not intend to teach you what trained doctors in hospitals do. What I am here to teach you on is how to keep a comrade on their feet, and to keep someone alive long enough to transport them to professionals. Or if the worst comes to pass, make them comfortable while they die.”

There was a ripple of laughter among the crowd. Professor Glas eyed them seriously. “Laugh if you will, this is a very serious matter. If you all continue on the path you have chosen, it is statistically inevitable that you will see death. Sometimes a wound is too severe. Sometimes we arrive too late. If that is the case, then there is little that we can do besides ease their suffering.”

No one was laughing now. Professor Glas looked at the assembly to decide whether or not he had made his point. Satisfied that he had, he turned back to the blackboard. “Well, now that we’ve gotten past the morbid part, let us go into the first part of my series on field first aide; Punctures and lacerations.”

Professor Glas continued with his lecture, having them stand up and practice bandaging wounds on each other. One thing that Daniel noticed during the lesson was that apart from his team and team LSTR, not a single other student came close to Daniel, or even made eye contact. So it has begun, he thought with dread, practicing a wrapping on Lewis’ stomach. The stares, the whispers, the hesitant steps away whenever he walked by. Just like at home. He hardly noticed the bell ringing, signifying the end of the period. There was an outrush of students as they made a mad dash for the door. Just like during the class, they gave Daniel a wide berth. One girl even wrinkled her nose at him. As Daniel and the rest of his team made their way towards the door, Professor Glas called out. “Daniel, a word please?”

The rest of team DDLN looked at Daniel with a slight confusion. “Go on,” he said. “I'll catch up with you guys.” He then swung over the balcony partitioning the lecture space from the seats, and made his way up to Professor Glas.

“Hello Daniel, I wanted to ask you how your first day is going,” Professor Glas asked kindly, although Daniel did notice him wrinkle his nose slightly.

Daniel shrugged. “Well, it's only been one class, but so far, I guess pretty good.”

“Very good, very good. I understand you were wounded slightly during the initiation. How is that healing up?”

Daniel gingerly touched the most evident wound on his forehead from when Dakota had punched him. “So far so good. I think I escaped any infection.”

“Good thing. Nasty place to get an infection, the head. Just to be safe though, take this.” Professor Glas dug through his pockets, pulling out several multicolored scalpels and a syringe filled with a clear solution before he finally came out with a tube of ointment. “If you start to see any signs of infection, start applying this right away. If symptoms persist, come see me and I'll see what I can do.

Daniel took the tube graciously, then excused himself, jogging off to catch up with the rest of his team. The next period on their schedule was devoted to lunch. Daniel entered the mess hall and grabbed a tray sitting down with the rest of his team off to the side.

“Well, that was an interesting class,” Dakota commented.

“D’know mate. I didn’t learn much from him.” Nicholas replied.

“Well, if you watched something beside the inside of your hat, perhaps you would learn something.”

“I’ll have you know I am an excellent practitioner of first aide. Back where I live, you either learned how to heal, or you learned how to die.”

“Well, on that morbid thought, what about you Lewis? You learn anything?” Dakota asked.

“Sorry man,” Lewis said dreamily, “the Spirits called me to commune with them. I had to answer.”

Dakota rolled his eyes. “Great. One of us was asleep; the other was high as a kite. Danny, tell me you were paying attention at least.”

“Huh, what?” Daniel asked, looking up from picking his food.

Dakota slapped his head. “Brilliant. It would seem that I was the only one paying attention this morning, meaning I get to teach all of you when exam time comes. Abso-fricking-lutely brilliant. Can my day get any worse?”

“Oh hey guys! How’s it going?” Ryler called.

Dakota banged his head on the table, causing everyone’s trays to rattle. “Nick, give me your gun. Just give it to me and let me leave this world in peace.”

Nick simply smiled and returned to his meal.

Ryler and the rest of team LSTR sat down in front of team DDLN. Tiberius sat down in front of Daniel and as far away from Ryler as he could manage and still seem polite. He took a tentative sniff, and immediately gagged, looking at Daniel in revulsion.

“Please, don’t start,” Daniel began,

“Start, START? I am not starting anything! I am ending this, once and for all!” Tiberius interrupted. He reached into his uniform and snapped on a pair of white latex gloves. He marched around and grabbed Daniel by the shoulder of his uniform marching him out of the mess hall; the rest of their teams watching in amusement.

“I wonder what’s in his grill,” Dakota said.

“Oh, Tiberius has been in a simply horrible mood since I tried to tell him about my sustainable farming initiative for the school.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Nicholas commented.

“Neither can I! It would’ve been just like what my mother has done to help our agricultural sectors, except it would be strictly for Beacon! We would-”

“Ryler, do remember what we talked about this morning?” Lunare asked in a controlled tone, messing with a multitool and a piece of machinery.

“I really don't see how Tiberius being allowed to rip my head off if I play anymore new age CDs at five in the morning relates to-”

“The other thing, Ryler,” Schatten said with a growl. “And I told you to never mention that genre around me again!”

Ryler thought for a minute. “Oh right! Was this one of the ‘inappropriate meal conversations’?” he asked, making finger quotes.

Lunare sighed. “Yes, yes it is.”

@0@0@

“What are you, GAH!” Daniel cried as Tiberius dragged him through the halls of their dorms

“I’ll explain later; gather all of your clothes and meet me in my dorm when you do.” Tiberius commanded, releasing him when they arrived at the door to Daniel’s dorm.

Confused, Daniel did as Tiberius asked and returned with his Denim jacket, jeans, and shirt.

Tiberius eyed the tiny bundle. “I said ALL of your clothes, Grigio.”

“These are all that I have.” Daniel replied. “I didn’t exactly come here with a dozen suitcases.”

Tiberius sighed. “No wonder you smell like a dumpster.” He muttered.

“Excuse me?” Daniel said, offended.

“Never mind. I need you to strip now.”

“Excuse me?!” Daniel said, now confused and offended. “Look, Tiberius, I think you're a nice enough guy, but I’m not interested in-”

“Oh shut up and lose the uniform Grigio. And take this.” He shoved a bag into his hand. “We’ve only got the rest of this period to do this, so get moving.”

“I’m sorry, but what exactly are we doing here? You failed to mention that.”

“What I’m doing here is making certain that the worst things I have to smell are Lunare’s grease, and whatever Ryler has on him. I’m relatively certain it’s dirt, but fear it might be worse.”

“But, what-”

“Uniform, Grigio. We don’t have much time left.”

Daniel wanted to protest further, but the glare Tiberius was giving him dried up any further comments. Wordlessly, he went back into his dorm and handed his uniform through the crack of the door to Tiberius.

“Now, while I go wash these ‘clothes’ take a long shower and use what’s in the bag.”

Daniel opened the bag. Inside was a bottle of heavy duty all in one body wash and shampoo. Daniel complied and soon the floor of the shower was covered in the weeks of dirt he had accumulated while living on the streets. Wrapping himself in a bath towel, he came out to see that Tiberius had left a pair of gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt on his bed, along with a note to meet him in the laundry room. Daniel followed the instructions and found Tiberius pulling his sodden uniform from the washer and dumping it in the dryer. He then refilled the washer with Daniel’s every day clothes along with what Daniel estimated to be an entire pint of detergent.

“What are you doing to my clothes?” Daniel said in surprise.

“I am giving them what appears to be their first ever cleaning.” Tiberius answered. “You should be thanking me.”

“Yeah, but why are you doing this?”

Tiberius rounded on him. “Don’t you wonder why everyone is avoiding you?”

“No, I think I’ve got that one figured out pretty damn well.” Daniel said hotly. There was no way Tiberius could even comprehend what he went through because of his condition.

“Then you understand why I’m doing this.” Tiberius said.

“No, I’m afraid I do not.”

“You stink Grigio. You smell like the back alleys of Vale. You smell worse than Rylers’ bare feet, which I can unfortunately attest that it is easily enough to severely injure anyone’s sense of smell.”

The dryer dinged and Tiberius pulled out Daniel’s uniform. Judging from the speed of the drying, and the fact that his clothes were smoking slightly, Tiberius had used the express dry setting. He shoved the clothes into Daniel’s hands.

“There. Put these on, and we’ll see if I was successful.”

Daniel walked around to another row of washers and after making certain they were alone, quickly changed back into his uniform, noticing that it now had a lemony scent.

He walked back around the row and presented himself to Tiberius. “There. Happy now?”

Tiberius took a long sniff. “I suppose it will suffice.” He said after a moment of hesitation. However, I still refuse to be forced to smell you every time our teams work together, which will happen if you continue to wear the exact same clothes every single day.”

Daniel shrugged. “Well, this is all that I have. Unless some cash magically appears in my wallet, I’m out of options.”

Tiberius huffed and dug around in his pockets before pulling out his wallet. He pulled out several bills and shoved them into Daniel’s hand. “First chance you get, go into town and get something else to wear. It’ll be a miracle if your shirt can be salvaged.”

Daniel took a look at the bills and almost had a heart attack. “This is two hundred Lien!”

“And that’s a problem?”

“No, it’s just, I can’t accept this. It’s way too much.” Daniel protested.

“Then consider it a mutual investment that benefits the two of us.” Tiberius replied. “You get new clothes, and I don’t have to smell you for the rest of our time here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have classes to go to. I will leave you here with your laundry to finish.” And with that, he brushed past Daniel and marched out of the wash room.

Daniel glanced back town at the Lien. Two hundred Lien. He had never even held that kind of money! And someone had just given it to him like it was not big deal. Wordlessly, he pocketed the money and waited for his clothes to finish.


	11. Chapter 11

The first chance he got, Daniel left Beacon and went on a shopping spree to get new clothes and toiletries. As he quickly found out, 200 lien did not go as far as he had expected. In the end, he settled with generic toiletries and clothes off of discount racks and thrift stores. But they fit, and for the first time he could remember, people besides his team would pass near him; some even bumping into him before offering a quick apology.

Back in his old town, he was shunned for being the son of the town drunk. Mothers would hide their children from him, shopkeeps tossed him out of their stores at best, and his own peers constantly beat him up. At Beacon, no one knew his past, or his secret. They treated him like they did everyone else.

He almost dared to think he might’ve found a home.

And thus time passed. Daniel and the rest of team DDLN were trained in a variety of classes, ranging from tactics to history, to combat. Daniel hands down enjoyed Professor Glas’ classes the most. All the other teachers were nice enough, but Professor Glas was possibly the most welcoming and open person Daniel had ever met. He still hadn’t told him his secret yet though. It would’ve been impossible to hide it from his teammates, and Daniel had a suspicion that Professor Ozpin had said something to the combat instructors, as he had yet to be picked for a match. To Daniel, that was already too many people. He had realized a long time ago that the more people that knew about a secret, the more likely it was for the secret to get out.

Daniel just hoped that if it got out, the public wouldn’t have as bad of a backlash as he feared they would.

It had been two weeks since the clothes incident and the students of Beacon were enjoying a Friday off for a kingdom-wide holiday. Teams were spending the time in a variety of fashions. Some were catching up with friends. Some were studying for upcoming tests. Others were taking full advantage of the clear skies and warm sun by relaxing and doing absolutely nothing.

Teams DDLN and LSTR were launching clay pigeons off the edge of the cliff above the emerald forest, and practicing fighting.

“Fore!” Lewis yelled. Lunare pulled a lever, and his contraption bucked, twisted, and at long last shot out a pigeon in a randomized direction. Lewis twisted towards it and played a soft tune on his guitar. The energy lazily but quickly floated up after the pigeon and destroyed it in a spectacular burst.

“How many times must I tell you, it’s pull, not fore?!” Tiberius said irritably.

“Dude, you need to like, chill out,” Lewis replied. “I still hit the birdie.”

“It’s not a birdie, it’s a clay pigeon!” Tiberius admonished. “I don’t even know why you’re even playing. Trap shooting is a gentleman’s sport. One that requires both skill, and sophistication.”

“Well if that’s the case, you should do just fine, Tiberius,” Lunare commented. “Why don’t you give it a try?”

Tiberius thought for a moment, then nodded in concession. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to go after a few. Load me up, will you Lunare?”

Lunare nodded and loaded another pigeon in. Tiberius pulled one of his chakrams off of his back and inspected it. Unbeknownst to him, Lunare stole a glance over at Lewis and shared a knowing wink with him. Tiberius looked up and they quickly looked away. “The pigeon is loaded and ready for your command Tiberius.”

“Very well then,” Tiberius said, taking a stance and pulling back his arm. “Pull!”

The machine bucked again and the pigeon streaked away. Tiberius followed its path with his hand for a moment, then tossed the chakram towards the pigeon. Just as it reached the pigeon, Lewis let loose a hard and fast guitar riff. The energy flew into the pigeon and destroyed it, knocking the chakram off its path. Tiberius, who up until that point had been making only minute gestures to steer the chakram to the pigeon, was forced to do a violent maneuver to save the chakram from the depths of the forest. It spun awkwardly to the ground and landed edge first at Tiberius’ feet, digging a deep gash into the earth.

“You fool!” Tiberius cried, picking up his chakram and inspecting it. “You broke it!”

Lunare gently pulled it from Tiberius’ hand and inspected it with mild interest. “Nothing to worry about Ty. It’s just a dent. A quick and easy fix.” To emphasize his point, he reached into his coat and bought out a small hammer. He turned the charkram over and began tapping the dent back in place.

“As if a touch up will solve that. My chakram will never fly straight again!” Tibeius said angrily.

Lunare looked up from his work and eyed Tiberius coolly. “Are you suggesting that my work has shown my abilities to be sub-par to your standards?” he asked with a smile and a voice colder than dry ice.

“Of course not Lunare, it’s just that-”

“Then I would advise not insulting the mechanic. Especially not when you have so many gadgets on and around your person at any given time.”

“What do gadgets have to do with-”

“I am a mechanic Tiberius,” Lunare answered. “To me, anything electronic or mechanical is a gadget and by definition, something I am to disassemble and reassemble on a whim.”

Tiberius wisely decided it was for the best that he keep his mouth shut for the duration of the repair.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Schatten were sparring a dozen or so meters away from Tiberius, Lunare, and Lewis. With the combat instructors incapable, or unwilling to call on him to fight, Daniel was stuck with practicing with his friends whenever he could. Dakota, who claimed he had some experience teaching others how to fight, was leaning against a tree and occasionally critiquing their form. Since no one on LSTR knew about Daniel’s disability, he had elected to tell them that his aura was fluxuating as of late, and that Professor Glas had said that the best way to heal was to use it sparingly. That was why he and Schatten were trying to disarm each other, instead of the usual lowering of the aura.

After what was a grueling match, Schatten finally got the upper hand by swinging his claws on his left hand towards Daniel, causing Daniel to throw his sword up in a block and get it caught between two of his claws. Instead of twisting and disarming Daniel like Daniel expected him to do, Schatten instead used the sword to keep Daniel rooted to one spot and slashed at Daniel with his right claws, stopping a hairsbreadth from his neck. “Game. I win,” he said shortly.

On the sidelines, Nicholas cursed softly and handed Ryler a Danish he had pilfered from the mess hall earlier in the day. They had placed bets on who would win and he had just lost. Ryler took his winnings and was about to eat it when Nicholas put a restraining hand on him. “You’re gonna want that when I win next round.”

Dakota sighed and moved towards them. “Danny; that’s the third time today you’ve fallen for that attack.”

“I know, alright,” Daniel said irritably. “And stop calling me Danny!”

Dakota pushed Daniel to the side and took a stance in front of Schatten, unclipping his pipe as he did so. “Attack me and throw that attack you just tried with Danny in when I least expect it.”

Without answering the request, Schatten launched into a flurry of blows at Dakota. Daniel was certain that he’d be instantly sliced to pieces, but Dakota held his ground surprisingly well. At one point, Dakota grabbed Schatten’s right arm with one hand, and blocked a vicious left slash with the pipe; angling the attack so as to let it slide to the side and leave Schatten exposed. He took advantage of the opening by landing vicious blows into Schatten’s side. Growling, Schatten kicked Dakota’s knees out from under him, and the crashed to the ground. Dakota disengaged and rolled to the side to avoid the ground shaking stomps Schatten delivered to the spot he had occupied mere moments before.

Dakota stood up and the two circled each other, Dakota in a street fighting stance, Schatten crouched low to the ground, claws extended before him, wolf ears flat against his skull, mouth bared in a snarl. Each eyed the other with cold calculation. Deep down, Daniel knew it was all a training match, but at the moment it seemed like a battle to the death.

Dakota broke the stalemate by dropping his chain into his hand and whipping it towards Schatten’s claws. The Wolf Faunus back flipped out of the way and skidded backwards a few feet. Before Dakota could close the distance, Schatten launched himself once more at Dakota. As he did, his belt emitted a loud _BANG_ and he accelerated even faster towards Dakota. The former gang member sidestepped out of the way and brought his pipe down hard on Schatten’s head. Schatten hit the ground and rolled to a stop, groaning.

Dakota walked calmly towards Schatten, spinning his chain in a slow arc. “I hope you remember what I asked you to do,” he commented.

Schatten let out a vicious snarl and swiped at Dakota’s legs. Dakota jumped backwards and Schatten used the moment to activate his belt once more. In an instant he went from lying down on his back, to airborne, high in the air. He landed on his feet next to Dakota and attempted the same attack that had caught Daniel’s sword in between his claws. Dakota didn’t allow him the chance. Instead, he caught one set of claws on his pipe and whipped the chain around the others, effectively snaring them. Before Schatten could do anything else, Dakota slammed his forehead into Schatten’s and the unfortunate Faunus stumbled backwards and landed in a heap.

On the sidelines, Ryler morosely handed Nicholas the Danish back. Nicholas inspected it, then immediately handed it back to Ryler. In the brief span he had held it; Ryler had managed to get the half he had held covered in dirt and grime.

Daniel stood with his mouth wide open. The fight hadn’t even lasted two minutes, yet was as grand and epic as any he had seen in tournaments on TV.

Dakota swung his chain in a wide arc and let it naturally wrap around his arm. He then reached down and helped Schatten to his feet. “Jump jets in the belt?” he asked.

Schatten nodded. “Got them as a birthday gift from Lunare. Still need to work on the settings though. I only meant to get to my feet, not fly ten meters up.”

Dakota nodded and turned back to Daniel. “In case you didn’t see, Danny boy; instead of going for a standard block like you, I angled mine to be nearly perpendicular to Schatten’s claws. I put it at a slight angle to keep his claws away from me, and to open up for attack. If you had done so as well, you could’ve gotten him on the hand and followed up with a cut to the side.”

“Oh, like the guy in the alleyway,” Daniel offered, the memory resurfacing.

Dakota frowned slightly. “I’d rather not talk about that, but you’re correct. But that raises the question, if you pulled it off there, why didn’t you do it here?”

Daniel frowned in thought. “I guess I don’t feel afraid, like I did in the alley,” he answered. “Back then, I didn’t know if I was going to survive.”

“So you fight better if you feel at risk?” Dakota asked.

“Yeah, but why do you ask?” Daniel queried.

“Oh, no reason,” Dakota answered before launching into an attack.

@0@0@

The sun was setting by the time teams DDLN and LSTR made it back to Beacon, nursing bruises from the day. As the weary students climbed the stairs to the floor their dormitories were on, they found Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch waiting for them on one of the landings.

“Wonder what they’re doin’ here,” Nick wondered out loud.

“Oh no, I can’t remember if I melted down my Rage cans yet,” Lunare whispered.

Ragequit energy drink, or Rage to most, was a drink that could be described as liquid pixie sticks with three times the sugar and caffeine of a regular energy drink. It had been a banned item at Beacon for some time now due to one student having a heart attack and nearly dying from drinking thirty of them in one sitting. Naturally this coupled with the sugar content made it a highly sought after item by Beacon students, becoming a sort of pseudo currency. Lunare had smuggled in several cases when he arrived at beacon and had used it to purchase items for some sort of secret project he’d been working on during every second he wasn’t at classes, working on schoolwork, or dueling with fellow students.

**A.N. Don’t bother looking for it, Rage isn’t a canon beverage in RWBY. It’s something that I made up to explain some plot points later on in this story, as well as some that I may make should there be sequels to TBH. It gets its name from one of the Achievement Hunters named Michael Jones (aka, the husband of Lindsey Jones, voice of Ruby). Michael is known for a show called “Rage Quit” which is him and occasionally other AH staff playing insanely difficult games and raging over them. The Pixie stick part is from a RT Life episode where Michael has Gavin cut open about twenty pixie sticks and dumping them all into Michael’s mouth.**

“Good evening,” Professor Ozpin said as they approached. “Judging from the general exhaustion among you, I believe that it is safe to assume that you all took advantage of your day off.”

“Well, apart from the deliberate damaging of the Royal Pain,” Tiberius began.

“Hold on, whose the Royal pain?” Daniel asked confused.

There was a burst of stifled laughter from team LSTR. Lewis joined them as well, for some odd reason.

“Dude, Ty just called himself a-” Lewis began.

“It’s my Chakrams, Grigio.” Tiberius said, shooting a glance at Lewis and the rest of his team. “I named them Royal Pain.”

Daniel blinked. “Oh. Sorry; I just thought,”

A withering glare from Tiberius quieted Daniel instantly.

“While I am sure that it was very enjoyable, I’m afraid that I must spoil your evening with a bit of paperwork,” Professor Ozpin continued, undeterred. He pulled a tablet from underneath his arm and handed it to Daniel. “Mr. Lanweilig neglected to have the parental release form filled out. As team leader, I trust that you will be able to send these documents to your legal guardian and have them filled out and returned to me by Monday. Otherwise, I’m afraid the school will be forced to dismiss you.”

Daniel gulped nervously, a cold steel ball settling in his stomach.

Professor Ozpin gently moved in between the teams and they wordlessly parted to allow him through. Professor Goodwitch paused a moment longer.

“One more thing Mr. Grigio; I was informed by one of the cleaners that your team’s dormitory smelled like smoke. Please remember that smoking is prohibited on school grounds and is a violation of the student code of conduct.”

And with that, she too was gone.


	12. Chapter 12

Lewis barged into their dormitory, his face rather pale. He opened his clothing drawers and pulled out several bulging socks and a Tupperware container before excusing himself to the bathroom with a warning to not follow him in. Loud splashes came from behind the closed door, followed by furious flushing. Anyone who didn’t know Lewis or the contents of the socks would have been left wondering what on Remnant was going on.

Daniel, who had entered right behind Lewis, sat down at his desk and immediately began looking through the documents on the tablet. After a few moments, he grabbed a stylus from the table and began filling it out.

Dakota eyed him curiously. “You do know your parents are supposed to fill that out, right?” he asked.

“Please,” Daniel scoffed. “I’ve been writing mortgage checks and withdrawing cash in my father’s name for years now. I doubt anyone’ll tell the difference. It is after all, my handwriting.”

“Yeah, but what if they find out you faked the signatures?” Dakota asked. “That’s grounds for expulsion right there. Even I went and got the orphanage owner to sign mine. Hell, she gladly signed them to get rid of me.”

Daniel set the stylus down and turned to Dakota. “Well unfortunately Dakota, I don’t have that possibility,” he said with more than just a hint of irritation. “I’ve got a drunk ‘father’ that I ran out on in the middle of the night because I’d had enough of his crap. I try and go get this stuff signed by him, there’s no way I’m getting away again. And even if I did, he’d just have the school void the forms and send me back anyways. Forging the signatures is my only hope.”

Dakota raised an eyebrow in surprise at Daniel’s intensity. “You mean he wouldn’t want a chance to spend more money on alcohol?”

“And lose the only person who does the dishes, folds laundry, buys food, and makes certain bills are paid so we don’t end up on the streets?” Daniel said sarcastically. “Besides, I’m worth more to him in government support checks than if he was on his own.”

Nick, who had been listening to the conversation from his hammock whistled quietly. “That there is a piece of shisno if I ever heard of one”

“Tell me about it, I’ve lived under him for way too long,” Daniel answered shortly. “Look, I appreciate the suggestions and sympathy, but right now, I need full concentration to fill out this form. It’s asking for a lot of information that I haven’t needed for a form in a long time. If I screw up, they’ll send it to my father for corrections.”

“Got it,” Dakota said. “I’ll stay out of-” he stopped when Daniel, who had just turned back to the form, whipped his head around again and glared menacingly at the former gang member. The glare didn’t faze Dakota- he had both seen and delivered far worse glares than that. But Daniel was his friend, and if he had to leave Beacon, Dakota doubted that they’d see each other again. So if Daniel needed concentration to fill out the form, the least he could do was to give him that.

As if on cue, a gurgling noise could be heard from the bathroom, followed by Lewis’ frantic cry “They won’t go down! The brownies won’t go down!”

Sighing, Dakota walked into the bathroom and prevented an incident that would give the cleaning staff something worse to complain about than smoke in one of the dormitories.

@0@0@

Daniel dropped the stylus and rubbed his eyes wearily. He had been at it for hours now; they sky through the curtains was pitch black at this point. He picked up the dimmed tablet and blearily reread the documents several times to make certain he had filled out everything correctly. Satisfied with his handiwork, he had turned off the tablet Professor Ozpin had handed him, turned out the desk light, and was pushing his chair back when someone lightly knocked on the door. Confused, Daniel stumbled to the door and opened it, revealing Lunare holding a long thin object that glinted menacingly in the low lit hallway.

Daniel stifled a scream and stumbled backwards as Lunare stepped into the room, brandishing the menacing screw driver in one hand. “I apologize for waking you at this hour, but it couldn’t wait,” he said.

He strode over to the mattress that Nick had left lying on the ground in-between his and Lewis’ beds. The cleaning crew probably would’ve picked it up long ago, had Lewis not appropriated it for storing his ‘stuff’ on it. Clothes, dust vials, and several of Ryler’s mother’s ‘scented’ candles were strewn over the top. Team DDLN had quickly learned that the cleaning crew avoided Lewis’ items like the plague, leaving the team to clean around his bed and spare mattress on their own.

Lunare felt around the top seam of the mattress before stopping at a place near one of the corners. Taking the screw driver, he stabbed it into the seam and pried upwards, revealing a long metal container directly underneath the fabric of the mattress. Careful not to disturb Lewis’ stuff laying on the top, Lunare cracked the lid, releasing a chill through the room. The rest of Team DDLN, who by now had fallen asleep, tossed and turned in annoyance to the drop in temperature.

Ignoring the chill, Lunare fished a penlight from his coat and shinned it into the crate. Curious, Daniel peeked inside the metal container. What he saw astonished him. Rows upon rows of Rage cans were stacked two high within the mattress. There was easily over two hundred of them. A thin layer of ice coated each can, but Daniel knew that the contents of the cans would still be liquid- Rage was almost impossible to freeze by most refrigerators. Satisfied that they were all in place, Lunare closed the refrigerator and unscrewed a side access port. He set it aside to reveal four ice dust crystals sitting in containment cells. Three of them glowed dimly, the fourth was dark. Lunare pulled the dead cell out and replaced it with one he produced from his jacket. His mission complete, Lunare re-screwed the access port shut and covered the refrigerator with the mattress once more. “I apologize once more for waking you up,” he said, “but the crystals drain exponentially faster if there are only three powering the unit for an extended period of time.”

“What, what was that?” Daniel asked, still in shock.

“That would be the third bank of LSTR,” Lunare replied. “Consider it a storage facility for the school’s supply of Rage that both preserves the taste of the beverage, and stores them in a safer place than most. I have several others in secure locations, but this one is easily the largest. Lewis allows me to operate out of your room in exchange for waiving the usual monthly fee for his account.”

“So if the refrigerator is, there,” Daniel said, stifling a yawn. “Then where are the springs for the mattress?”

“Oh I took those for a project ages ago,’ Lunare said dismissively. “Lewis sold them to me for three boxes of brownie mix and a two percent increase to his stock in the bank.”

Daniel groaned, massaging his temples. It was way too late for these kind of revelations.

Lunare noticed Daniel massaging his temples. “You should get some rest,” he suggested. “The pain might have time to dissipate.

“It’s okay,” Daniel yawned. “I wasn’t even asleep when you knocked. I was working on the parental release form.”

Lunare raised his eyebrows and pushed his glasses up his nose. “I assume that you do realize that those forms are to be filled by the parent and not the student, correct?”

Daniel cursed under his breath for letting that slip. He briefly considered brushing it off like it was nothing, but discarded the notion quickly. Once Lunare caught onto a discrepancy like that, he wouldn’t let go until either he found an answer to the discrepancy, or he was proven wrong. Daniel quickly and quietly gave a brief synopsis of what his current situation was like, and what would happen if he didn’t forge the documents.

To his credit, Lunare, listened to every word, only interjecting once or twice to ask a question. When Daniel was done, Lunare pushed his glasses up again, even though it was unnecessary, and asked “I assume that you have a solution for getting your father’s finger print, am I correct?”

“Do what now?” Daniel asked, desperately fighting to stay awake at this point.

Taking Daniel’s answer as no, Lunare grabbed the tablet from Daniel’s desk and switched to the final document. He turned the tablet and handed it to Daniel, pointing at a rectangle that Daniel had missed due to exhaustion. Daniel read around it and groaned. Right there, plain as day, it said that the form needed to be not only signed, but also stamped with at least one of the legal guardians’ fingerprints.

“Due to the nature of our work and training, there is a higher risk of injury and death than other professions,” Lunare mentioned. “The school most likely wishes to make certain that parents understand what their children are getting into. Failing that, they at least have means to avoid a nasty lawsuit should something happen to a student.”

At this, Daniel let out a long stream of curse words that started off quiet but soon reached a dangerously loud decibel.

“Judging from what you have told me, and the colorful way you have managed to incorporate every swear word I know and their derivatives multiple times into a single sentence, I assume that asking your father for a fingerprint is out of the question,” Lunare commented.

“Damn right,” Daniel said. “I mean what am I supposed to do? Walk up to him and say ‘Hey Dad, sorry for skipping out on you like that but you were a bit of a jerk to me and I’d had enough of your crap. Oh, and by the way, I need your thumbprint so I can become a Huntsman and come back to this hellhole of a house when I’m done with training and tell you to suck it.’”

“That would be difficult to do,” Lunare mused.

“Yeah, just like sleeping with you two jabbering on!” Dakota hissed in the darkness. “Also Daniel, that had to be the most unique use of the four man derivatives of the F-bomb I’ve ever heard; and I used to share a room with a guy who literally had a notebook full of ways to use them.”

“Sorry Dakota,” Daniel apologized. “I just, I don’t know what to do now. Without that fingerprint, there’s no way I can stay at Beacon.”

“Write in the notes section that your dad has no thumbs,” Dakota offered. “That’s what the orphanage owner had to do for me.”

“It is highly likely that Beacon would simply resend the papers asking for a fingerprint of another finger.” Lunare contradicted. “And having the paper returned to Daniel’s father is out of the question.”

Daniel sighed and checked his watch. “Alright then, I've got a bit of money left over from what Tiberius gave me. I'll get a round ticket to my father's place in the morning, and get his fingerprint when he's passed out drunk.”

“Not happening Daniel,” Dakota said. “National Holiday, remember? Trains and buses are closed down for the rest of the week.”

Daniel hit his head, furious that he hadn't thought of that. “Perfect. I've got no way of getting to my father's house in time.”

Lunare pondered this for a moment, then pushed his glasses up his nose once more. “Could it work?” he murmured to himself. “Yes, it could. But it would have to be tonight. It’s the new moon, which means little light for us to be discovered.”

“Discovered for what?” Dakota asked, still irritated that he wasn’t being allowed to go to sleep, but at the same time curious as to what Lunare was planning.

Lunare didn’t answer Dakota immediately. Instead, he walked over to the spare mattress and opened up the secret refrigerator once more- pulling out three cans of Rage. He made a note on his Scroll and tossed a can to Dakota and Daniel each. “Drink up,” he said. “We’re getting into Mr. Grigio’s house and getting his thumbprint tonight.”

Daniel sighed and handed the can back to Lunare. “Lun, I appreciate the idea, but it’s past midnight and it takes six hours by car to get to my house. It’s just not possible to get there, get the thumbprint, and get back to Beacon all in one night.”

Lunare passed the can back to Daniel. “I didn’t say we were taking a car.”


	13. Chapter 13

Had it not been for the 20 ounces of Rage coursing through his system, Daniel would've been certain he was dreaming at this point. What he was seeing before him, defied all logic and reason. How Lunare had built it, _why_ he had built it, was beyond Daniel's comprehension.

“What, the actual hell is that?” Dakota asked, who was equally confused.

Having downed the cans of Rage, Lunare had snuck back to his dorm to grab his staff, before leading Daniel and Dakota out of the dorms and off of Beacon’s campus. They traveled several blocks until they reached a beat-up old garage. Lunare fished out a key from his jacket and unlocked the door. As he did, Daniel heard several mechanical sounds within the garage, as well as something electric power off. Lunare slid the door up and flicked a light switch to reveal, something. Lunare had somehow acquired an ancient first generation car body and had lifted it off the ground and held it up from the ceiling via four metal arms that held it where the wheels would normally be. Up in the dashboard, Daniel could see that several levers had been added in next to the standard wheel.

“This,” Lunare answered, “Is the project I've been working on. If anything can get us anywhere in Vale and back here before the night is out, it's this.”

“But it looks like a heap of scrapmetal!” Dakota protested.

“Interesting how most people assume technological breakthroughs look like junk,” Lunare said. “Although, Scrapmetal is a good name for it, considering where most of the parts came from. I think I might keep it.”

“So, how does it get around?” Daniel asked. “Does it fly?”

“If by fly you mean leave the ground and travel through the air until landing at it's destination, then no.” Lunare answered. “Flying would not suit the purpose I have in mind for Scrapmetal.”

“Well, tell us it can at least do it's job,” Dakota said.

Lunare scratched his head. “Of that, I am not certain. All the systems have performed perfectly on their own, but I have yet to attempt a full on trial.”

“So for all you know, this thing could explode and kill us all?” Dakota said in shock and outrage.

“No, it would be more likely that we would crash at high speeds and be killed,” Lunare replied. “I'm relatively certain I've worked out all the issues that would result in an explosion.”

“Oh, you're,”

“Dakota, stop it,” Daniel instructed. He turned to Lunare. “Are you certain that this thing can get us to Vale's outskirts and back?”

Lunare nodded his head. “If anything else can, I have yet to hear of it. Providing that all systems work as planned, we can be back within our beds before the sun is up.”

“Then I’m in,” Daniel said with finality. Lunare gave Daniel and encouraging smile before walking over to a stepladder and dragging it over to the rear seat.

“Daniel, what the heck are you doing?” Dakota asked.

“There's no way I'm going back to that man,” Daniel said, climbing the ladder. “Either we succeed tonight, or I die trying.”

“Which is a less likely possibility than Scrapmetal simply crashing to the ground upon engine startup; certainly jarring, but unlikely to kill us,” Lunare added

Dakota looked out of the garage. In the distance, he could see Beacon, where his nice warm bed awaited him. He turned back to Lunare, who was watching him expectantly. Dakota stared at the ground and sighed. “I can't believe I got talked into this,” he said before climbing in beside Daniel. Lunare climbed in last without the aide of the stepladder, fishing out a thick set of keys. He selected one and jammed it into the ignition. The engine growled to life with a power that Daniel had not expected to hear. Lunare flicked a switch that lit up the dashboard, revealing a stunning assortment of dials and instruments. Hydraulic pressure, gear status, none of it made any sense. Daniel could swear he even saw a gyro ball straight out of a fighter plane somewhere in the mess.

“Lun, if you kill us in this thing, I swear your ass is haunted,” Dakota shouted as Lunare pushed down on the accelerator, testing the RPMs.

“If you wish to avoid that specific ending, I would highly suggest that you use the seat belts provided!” Lunare shouted back.

Daniel looked at his shoulders to find seat belts that looked like they came from the same place as the gyro ball. He and Dakota looked at each other for a moment before frantically scrabbling for the seat belts. As they did, the bench seat they were on creaked familiarly.

“Lunare!” Daniel shouted.

Lunare eased off of the throttle and turned back to look at Daniel, his a grin plastered on his face that Daniel had never seen. “Yes Daniel San?”

“What is this seat made out of?”

“Duct tape and mattress springs,” Lunare answered. “Now, if you two are ready, Daniel can imput our destination into this GPS,” he handed Daniel a bulky, dented GPS attached to the dashboard via wires, “And we can be off.”

Daniel shakily typed in his father's address and handed it back to Lunare. Lunare glanced at the route and shook his head. “Really Daniel, when you said your father lived on the other side of Vale, I expected more of a challenge.”

“Yeah, but none of the main roads go anywhere near it,” Daniel answered. “We'll be taking back roads for the most part.”

“Who said we were following the roads?” Lunare asked. He grasped the emergency brake and yanked it into neutral. Whatever was holding them to the ceiling disengaged and the whole chassis dropped down before coming to a lurching halt several feet above the ground.

“Electromagnets in the legs connected to the emergency brake system,” Lunare said.

“Legs, what legs?” Daniel squeaked, his voice noticeably higher than it was a moment ago.

“Dude, take a look out the window,” Dakota said. “You really gotta see this.”  
Daniel cautiously peered out the window to see that the four 'arms' that he had seen earlier were in fact _legs_.

“It's got legs,” Daniel breathed. “You gave it spider legs.”

“Technically, to have spider legs, it would require eight legs,” Lunare corrected. But, considering what the Scrapmetal is capable of, it is an accurate analogy.”

Dakota opened his mouth to ask what exactly Lunare meant; but before he got the chance, Lunare floored the accelerator, and the legs surged into action. Scrapmetal shot out of the garage and flew towards the buildings on the other side. A scream built up in Daniel but before he could let it out, Lunare pulled one of the levers and Scrapmetal leapt from the ground and soared up the building, latching itself onto the edge of the roof. Lunare applied more gas, and Scrapmetal clambered up and onto the roof.

Lunare turned back around to the frightened members of DDLN, the grin still plastered on his face. “I assume that your looks of astonishment mean that you are sufficiently awed?”

Daniel gulped, and fought to control his breathing. “Lun, please, get us out of here before I lose my nerve.”

“We have yet to leave first gear, and you're already shaking in your boots,” Lunare said. “If that is the case, I can assume that this will be an interesting journey.

“Oh Lord,” Dakota moaned as Lunare revved the engine once more and shifted into gear. “Did he just say that was just first gear?”

Dakota's answer came in the form of a throaty roar coming from what Daniel would later learn to be Scrapmetal's V8 engine Lunare had somehow crammed under the hood.

Scrapmetal scrambled to the other side of the roof and leapt off the ledge, landing on the roof of the building across the street. Lunare briefly glanced at the GPS readout and yanked the steering wheel to the right. Scrapmetal skittered around and continued on its rampage, following the line of buildings towards the freeway.

“Lunare, we're running out of houses,” Dakota commented. “What're you going to do when you hit the freeway?”

In the rear view mirror Lunare had a wild gleam in his eyes. “Well, I have yet devise a system to give Scrapmetal a 'street form', so I suppose we will be forced to remain in this mode,”

They neared the end of the final building and Lunare pulled the lever he had used to climb the first building and Scrapmetal leaped into the air once more. They sailed through the air, the highway appearing below them and perpendicular to their course. Lunare pulled another lever on the dash board, and yanked hard right on the wheel. Scrapmetal rotated in midair just in time to land on the freeway. The legs skittered to the side before gaining traction and roaring down the street.

Straight into incoming traffic.

Dakota gave an uncharacteristicly high pitched scream as Lunare pushed the lever he had just pulled back into its standard position and eased Scrapmetal over the median and into the correct lane of traffic. He shifted into the next gear and Scrapmetal gained additional speed. Daniel glanced over Lunare's shoulder to see that Scrapmetal was well into the triple digits for its speed.

“Lunare, I think that it is safe to say that your creation works!” Daniel shouted.

“Good! Which reminds me,” Lunare said. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a tape recorder and a microphone. He pressed play and spoke loudly.

“This is journal entry number one-oh-seven,” Lunare recited. “I apologize for the noise, but I am currently transporting Daniel Grigio and Dakota Harding on a mission to acquire a thumbprint so that he may continue his education at Beacon.” he paused for a moment to avoid a semi truck that they were approaching by climbing up the steep slope separating the freeway from the buildings above. “Project LM2 which shall now be known as 'Scrapmetal', is performing at expected levels. It is to be noted though that the noise is louder than anticipated. Extra muffling is required for all variants, not just for stealth variants. One exception could possibly be for the 'THUNDERBEE variant', since its primary focus is on intimidation.” He pressed the stop button and returned the recorder to the glovebox before yanking on the jumping lever again to avoid a car that was going far too slow.

“How much more of this are we going to have to endure?” Dakota desperately asked.

“Approximately ninety three minutes, providing that we do not experience any unexpected traffic,” Lunare answered. He shifted into an even higher gear and they sped off into the night.

@0@0@

Ninety five minutes later, Lunare pulled off of the freeway, skidded down a steep slope, and came to a complete stop mere inches from the wall of a local convenience store. He cut the power to Scrapmetal and popped the door, dropping down with ease. Daniel followed suit, albeit with slightly less grace. Dakota threw threw his door open and fell out of Scrapmetal. He scrabbled away from the legged vehicle on his hands and knees before finally collapsing a few feet away, shaking in fright.

“If I didn't know you better Dakota,” Daniel said as he offered an equally shaky hand to Dakota, “I'd say you were scared.”

“There are things to be scared of, and things to not worry about,” Dakota replied, taking Daniel's offered hand. “That, thing,” he said as he pointed a trembling finger at Scrapmetal, “is to be feared beyond anything else. Give me your gun Daniel. I'm going to shoot its creator, destroy his creation, and take my chances with hitchhiking back to Beacon.”

“At least we got here in one piece,” Daniel said. “Now all we have to do is break into my father's house and get his thumbprint.”

“Just tell me which way to go, and I'll get us in,” Dakota said.

Daniel nodded and walked to the edge of the convenience store. Peering around, he saw that they were on the main drag of his hometown. If they followed the cracked dirty road, they could be at his house in five minutes.

As he peered into the night, he felt someone remove his sword from his belt. Whirling around, he saw Lunare placing it within the depths of his long coat. “What the heck are you doing?” Daniel asked

“Due to the distance between your hometown and Beacon, I can only assume that a Huntsman walking down the street with a military sword is likely to draw attention,” Lunare answered. “Speaking of which, I would advise you put this on.” He reached into his coat and brought out a black beanie that he handed to Daniel. “It would be preferable if you were not recognized by anyone here. If word got back to your father, it might be possible for him to trace you.”

Daniel nodded in consent and took the beanie. He jammed it down over his bright red hair and stepped out from behind the store. A moment later, Lunare and Dakota followed suit. Daniel reached the sidewalk and almost instantly settled into the path that he had followed almost every day for most of his sixteen years. He crossed the street and passed by the very alley he had been beaten up in multiple times. He passed by the doctors office where he had learned that he lacked an aura. Directly across the street was the gun shop where Daniel assumed his father had acquired the handgun Daniel now carried underneath his denim jacket. Right next to it was his father’s favorite liquor store. It coincidentally had yet to be robbed.

This was Daniel's life for seventeen years. He felt he should be nostalgic for it, but all he felt was relief that after today, he would never have to step foot within the town again.

They continued on for several minutes before reaching the end of the road they were on. There at the end was a rundown house. The front window had been shattered what looked like years ago, the hole duct taped shut. The porch sagged and the roof looked like it couldn't hold back any rain worse than a mild sprinkle; yet it held up surprisingly well Daniel knew and instead diverted the water into the basement and directly to where Daniel slept.

It was his father's house. They had reached the entrance of the lion's den.


	14. Chapter 14

Daniel, Dakota, and Lunare crept up to the house, their feet treading carefully upon the packed earth. In the dim light from light poles off in the distance, Daniel could see a well-worn trail leading from the end of the road to the front door. Most people unconsciously gravitated to such paths. Daniel knew better. In one of his more idiotic drunken moments, his father had purchased a ton of gadgets for home defense. When they had arrived, he blamed Daniel and demanded that Daniel set them up himself as punishment. Motion sensors, laser alarms, electrified fence, it was all very elaborate.

And it was all pointed directly at that path. Nothing that would stop a halfway decent criminal, but then again, who would honestly think there was anything in the house that made it worth breaking into.

Well, except for a certain valuable fingerprint.

Motioning for Dakota and Lunare to follow him, Daniel quickly moved over to a half-dead tree that stood forlornly next to the fence. Getting a running jump, Daniel grasped onto one of the branches and hauled himself up. He then moved from branch to branch until he was safely over the fence. Dropping down, he moved out of the way for Dakota and Lunare to follow suit. When they were all on the right side of the fence, Daniel led them to the side of the porch and clambered up. Dakota moved to try the door, only to find it was locked.

“One sec,” Dakota whispered. “I've got a set of lockpicks I can use.”

“That won't be necessary,” Lunare said, pulling out a strange bulky contraption that had what vaguely resembled a key on one end. “I have a universal key that will get us in with much less noise.”

Daniel pushed both of them aside and bent down at the grubby welcome mat. He slid it off to the side and pressed on one of the boards. The board flipped up to reveal a small open box underneath with a single key within. “Or we could just use the keys like normal people,” he said. He unlocked the door and dropped the key back in its hole before flipping the board back down and covering it all up with the welcome mat again.

Lunare stared wistfully at his universal key before placing it back within his coat. Dakota grumbled but eventually did so as well. “Fine, but if this guy is awake, I'm knocking him out.”

“No one's knocking anyone out,” Daniel said as he stepped inside and past the old washing machine and dryer, gently the door to the cramped coat closet closed, and stepped into the cramped kitchen. “He should be passed out by now. The only question is, where?”

“He’s your father,” Dakota said, “You tell us.”

Daniel peered through the darkness for a minute. Even in the gloom, he could still see the grime, the alcohol stains on the rug, the unwashed shot glasses on the kitchen counter; It was like he had never left.

“Okay, Dakota, you check the bedroom and bathroom,” Daniel said after he was done reviewing the interior. “Lunare, look around the sofa and dining table. I'll check the basement. Meet back here when you’re done.”

“Wait, I thought _you_ slept in the basement,” Dakota said, confused.

“I had a bed that I usually used in the basement,” Daniel said. “That doesn't mean much to a guy who should be in a coma from how much he drank that night. Seriously, I'm somewhat certain that his semblance is being able to consume four times as much alcohol as anyone else in town.”

They split off and began their searches. Daniel followed Dakota before splitting off and coming to a thin door next to the bathroom. He opened it to reveal a set of dark stairs going down into an inky black abyss. Daniel walked down the stairs, counting them as he went. Twelve; Just like every night. He reached the bottom and grasped at the right-hand rail. Finding the switch, he flicked it on to ignite a bare bulb that revealed his basement bedroom, but no father.

He was just about to leave when he saw something that he had forgotten to grab. He walked over to a bunch of boxes near his bed and picked up a picture frame. In the time that he had been gone, dust had blurred the glass, but he wiped it away with his sleeve to reveal a pretty woman in a lilac shirt and jeans with light brown hair that fell to the small of her back. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't diminutive either. She had laugh lines at her eyes and a small smile on her lips. At the time of her death, her name was Mary Grigio. She was Daniel's mother.

According to Daniel’s father, before Daniel’s grandparents had cut of contact with Daniel and his father completely, they gave Daniel's father the picture so that Daniel would have a way of knowing what his mother looked like. It had been taken the day of her 21st birthday. The day she went out to the bar for the first time, leaving her parents at home, and ended up conceiving Daniel with his father. The rest was history.

Daniel desperately wanted to take the picture with him, with his grandparents God knows where, the picture was his only tie to that side of his family. Somehow he doubted that his father would even notice it was gone. But there was still a chance that he would notice and if he did, he would know that Daniel had returned and broken into his house. If he asked around about it, he might learn of Scrapmetal, and eventually be able to trace it right to Daniel. He just couldn't take that risk.

Daniel was about to return the picture to its original position when he heard someone coming down the stairs. He clutched the picture to his chest, ripped his pistol out from the back of his Jeans, and whirled around to find Dakota standing at the bottom of the stairs with his hands in the air.

“Dust Grimm and Huntsmen, you scared me Dakota!”

“The feeling in mutual,” Dakota said. “What's in the picture?” he asked, motioning to the picture Daniel still had clutched to his chest.

Daniel looked down at it, memorizing its features since this was the final time that he would ever see the picture. After what seemed like an eternity but would still not be enough, Daniel sighed and placed it back on the boxes. “Just an old picture,” he said.

“Seems like more than just that,” Dakota said, eying his team captain. “You sure you're-”

“Have you found him yet?” Daniel interrupted hotly.

Dakota stared at Daniel for a long moment, then shook his head. “No. I was just about to get back to the washer when I saw the light on down here.”

“Well here I am,” Daniel said, pushing past Dakota and flicking the switch to turn the lights off. “Let's go and find Lunare.”

Dakota shrugged and followed Daniel up the ladder. The two carefully crept back to the washing room to find Lunare standing next to the coat closet waiting for them. He took one look at Daniel and immediately began rummaging in his jacket.

“Did you find him?” Daniel asked.

“One moment please,” Lunare said. He pulled a filthy rag from his jacket, inspected it, and shoved it back in before producing an equally filthy rag. He tried one more time and finally came up with a hand towel that wasn't too greasy. Having passed his inspection, he handed it to Daniel.

“Why do I need this?” Daniel asked.

“Because your eyes are leaking fluid rather profusely and I can only assume you would want removed from your face,” Lunare replied.

Daniel felt his face to find that he was in fact crying. He immediately put the towel to use and managed to wipe up most of the tears.

“Daniel found a picture in the basement,” Dakota explained to Lunare.

“I wish I could say my search was as successful,” Lunare said. “I'm sorry Daniel, but I couldn't find him.”

“That doesn't make any sense,” Daniel said, handing the cloth back to Lunare who took it with a nod. “He should be here right now, passed out drunk and perfect for us to get his finger print.”

“Then he has to be somewhere,” Dakota said. “Daniel, think. This is your father we're talking about here. If he wasn't at home at this hour, where could he be?”

Daniel was about to answer when out in the yard, he heard the gate creak as someone stumbled into the yard, cursing drunkenly.

The three teens reacted instantly. Daniel dropped to the ground, Dakota let loose a continuous stream of curses, and Lunare threw himself into the coat closet and slammed the door shut. Realizing what Lunare was doing, Daniel followed suit by lifting the lid of the washer and throwing himself in. Judging from the clambering sounds outside of the washer, Dakota had done something similar.

Dakota's movements had just quieted down when Daniel's father slammed into the door with a loud crash that reverberated throughout Daniel's metal cube. As his father fumbled drunkenly with the keys, Daniel scrunched down further and prayed that his father wouldn't open the lid and throw up on him. It had happened before; both throwing up in the washer, and on Daniel. Neither were particularly pleasant experiences.

Fortunately for Daniel, his father successfully locked the door and moved on without vomiting on them. Daniel waited until his noise went into the bedroom before lifting the lid of the washer slightly and peering out. The lights were still off and there was no sign of his father. Daniel carefully opened the lid the entire way and clambered out of the washer. As he did so, the dryer next to him opened and several of Daniel’s father’s shirts fell out. A moment later, Dakota clambered out with them.

“That, was way too close,” Dakota said as he exhaled deeply

“Agreed,” Daneil replied. “Let's get his thumbprint and get out of here. I don't want to test our luck any more than we already.”

Daniel moved out of the hallway and moved a few steps before realizing that Lunare still hadn't left the coat closet. He returned and opened it up to see that Lunare was hanging from a coat hanger he had jammed inside his long coat, and furiously constructing something out of a battery, some tinfoil, and several wires. He looked up in shock when the door opened, but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was Daniel.

“What are you doing?” Daniel asked. “Let's go!”

“My apologies,” Lunare said. “I was constructing a way of subduing your father should he have opened the door.”

“So in the time that it took us to hide in the washer and dryer,” Dakota said, “You managed to hang yourself by your coat and build a Taser, all without being heard by Daniel's dad?”

Lunare nodded. “Although considering a Taser merely stuns someone, I believe that calling it a Taser would be-”

“I get it Lunare,” Dakota said. “Now come on. I need to get out of here and take a shower. I haven’t felt this dirty since I was last on the streets.”

“Tell me about it,” Daniel agreed. He moved through the house with Dakota and Lunare right behind. They followed the sounds of snoring to the bedroom that Dakota had checked earlier. Lunare pulled the tablet out and made a move to enter the room when Daniel put a restraining hand on him. "I need to do this alone," he said.

"Wait, what about us?" Dakota asked.

"If he wakes up, I might be able to make him think it's just a dream," Daniel answered. "Two strangers would be a bit more difficult."

Dakota grumbled but conceded.

Daniel took the tablet from Lunare and ventured in to his father's room. In the darkness, he could see his father sprawled upon the bed in the middle of the room face-first; his snores loud enough to give a fully grown Ursa a run for its money.

As he neared the bed, his foot hit a beer bottle and made a loud clink. Daniel froze as the bottle rolled noisily across the floor, hitting several cans before rolling to a stop underneath the bed.

Daniel's father grunted and rolled over in his sleep.

Daniel breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer to his father. When he reached the edge of the bed and got a good look at his father's position, he was faced with a predicament. The few times that Daniel had needed his father's fingerprint, his father had supplied him with his left thumb. When he had rolled over, his left hand had become pinned underneath his body.

Daniel sighed. "You're still finding ways to screw with me, aren't you pops?" He walked over to the left side of the bed and grasped the hulking mass and pulled. To his dismay, despite the muscles that he had gained since enrolling in Beacon, his father refused to roll over.

Hearing Daniel's grunts of exertion, Lunare peered into the room. Daniel saw him and waved furiously at him to come over, deciding that it was worth the risk of his father waking up and seeing a stranger. Between the two teenagers, they managed to roll Daniel's father over. As soon as they got him rolled upright, Daniel's father decided to continue the roll and rolled straight off of the bed as Daniel and Lunare scrambled out of the way. He landed with an almighty crash that shook the room and rattled dirty dishes far away in the kitchen sink. Before anything else could happen, Daniel swooped down with the tablet and pressed his father's thumb to the tablet. The box where his fingerprint was needed turned green and an image of the thumbprint appeared. Daniel stood back and did a miniature dance for joy. They had done it.

Lunare took the tablet and moved out of the room. Daniel stayed a moment longer to look at the dark form of his father. “I always hated you,” Daniel said quietly yet harshly. “You made my life a living hell. You beat me, ignored me, and forced me to take care of both of us. Your reputation completely isolated me from the rest of my peers. But you know what?” he asked, his voice rising, “That's all over now. I've found a way to rise above you, and make something out of my life. When I came here, I thought I’d feel hate and anger towards you. But now that I see you, all that I feel is pity.”

As if to agree with this sentiment, Daniel's father let out a massive belch.

“This is goodbye father,” Daniel said with disgust. “I hope we never meet again.”

In the time that it took Daniel to cross the room, he had composed himself. “Let's get the hell out of here,” he said.

“Right behind you,” Dakota said, as he re-buckled his belt. Seeing this, Daniel stopped right in his tracks.

Wait, why are you buckling your belt back up?” Daniel asked in confusion.

“I had to use the bathroom while I was waiting,” Daniel answered. “There's no way I'm getting back in that death trap that Lunare calls transportation with a full bladder.”

Daniel opened his mouth to argue that it could lead to his father realizing that someone had broken into his house, but then closed it. Chances are, his father had forgotten to flush.

“Besides, the question you should really be asking yourself Daniel, is why Lunare brought me along in the first place. All that I’ve done is search a room and hide in a dryer.”

“I believed that including you on this mission would prove beneficial, should acquiring the fingerprint prove more difficult than anticipated,” Lunare replied. “Even with both of our Auras, two Huntsmen-in-training could easily be overrun simply through superior numbers.”

“Yeah, that would be pretty bad, wouldn't it,” Daniel said nervously. Unbeknownst to Lunare, had Dakota not come along there would've been only one person with an unlocked Aura in the house tonight.”

Dakota noticed Daniel's uneasiness, and quickly changed the subject. “Well we didn't need me, and I lost out on precious hours I could've spent sleeping,” he said gruffly. “Let's get on that piece of Scrapmetal and hopefully end up at Beacon in one piece.”

Together, the trio raced out of the house, Daniel being careful to lock it behind them, and hurried away on the street, to the convenience store, and around the side to Scrapmetal. As they neared the vehicle, Lunare broke into a full out sprint and beat both Daniel and Dakota to his masterpiece. He wrenched the door open and was buckling up by the time Daniel and Dakota reached the doors. Daniel yanked the door open and was about to climb in when a restraining hand was put on his shoulder. He turned to see it was Dakota.

“Hey, when you came back from getting the fingerprint, I wasn't in the bathroom,” Dakota said. “I was actually back down in the basement getting this.”

He reached into his black leather jacket and retrieved the picture of Daniel's mother. Daniel took the picture reverently and proceeded to punch Dakota in the arm. “You idiot!” he shouted over the noise of Scrapmetal as Lunare turned the ignition and started the loud engine. “If he finds this missing, I could be in so much trouble!”

“What trouble?” Dakota shouted back. “How is a picture going to somehow lead him to Beacon? Besides, it means something to you! I'm not that dense!”

Daniel opened his mouth for further protest, but was stopped by Dakota. “If you really want that slimeball to keep the photo, then you can go back in that house and return it! Otherwise, get in Scrapmetal! I'm going to regain my sanity and hitchhike out of here if I don’t get in now!”

Daniel looked at the photo, then in the general direction of his house. Then at Scrapmetal. Finally tossed the photo into the cabin next to the beanie and clambered in alongside. Dakota followed suit as well after a longing glance at a payphone off in the distance where he could probably call a cab to return to Beacon.

“That was an idiotic thing to do!” Daniel shouted as they sat down, “But thanks for doing it!”

Dakota looked at Daniel and graced him with a nod.

With both of them beginning to fasten their seat-belts, Lunare floored the accelerator and Scrapmetal shot up the embankment. Just as they cleared the top and scampered off into the night, two policemen in a cruiser turned the corner with their lights on, investigating a report of someone revving their engine at three in the morning. Seeing nothing but hearing everything, they drove off after the receding noise. But it was too late. The three teenagers were long gone into the night.


	15. Chapter 15

Fifty minutes into the ride, Lunare pulled off the highway and into an old, beat up fuel station. According to him they had set off with only half a tank, and it was getting lower than what Lunare would like it to be.

It also possibly had to do with the large sign advertising that they sold Rage there.

The instant they stopped, Dakota threw open his door and raced towards the convenience store of the fuel station, muttering something about using the bathroom.

As Dakota hurried his way towards the bathroom, Lunare flipped a switch and Scrapmetal settled down lower. An arm separated from the body of Scrapmetal and grabbed the pump and began filling the vehicle.

Lunare then opened the trunk and pulled out a large metal cooler. When Daniel saw this, he hurried over and helped Lunare get it out and to the ground. Lunare flipped a switch and it began to hum softly. The two of them awkwardly carried the cooler to the convenience store and through the front door. As they entered, a sleepy looking cashier attendant looked up from the counter and at the two teenagers hobbling in. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“ _la bienvenida a la estación de gasolina López_ ,” he said, “ _¿en qué puedo ayudarle_ ”

Lunare dropped his end of the cooler and replied in the same language, “ _Disculpe señor, pero ¿sería posible que yo compro tantas latas de Rage que pueda caber dentro de este refrigerador”_

The attendant blinked in surprise at a teenager speaking his language so fluently, then smiled and replied in the affirmative. At least, that's what Daniel assumed he said as Lunare opened up the glass refrigerator and began placing cans of Rage into the cooler. Realizing that this could take a while, Daniel bought a soda, and a candy bar that had an amusing name. He took his purchases and leaned against the refrigerator glass, rubbing his eyes as he went. It had been a long night, and the effects of the Rage were finally beginning to wear off. He could always drink another one, but having too many could be harmful for one's health. Besides, as useful as it was for staying awake, he still hated the flavor of Rage. Pixie sticks had never agreed with him that well. Thankfully he also had the next day off, so he could sleep in to his heart’s content. That is, if Lewis and his guitar let him.

Having sufficiently filled the cooler and paid the attendant, Lunare leaned against the glass next to him. He pushed his glasses up and pulled out the contraption that he had been working on in the closet along with a set of miniscule screwdrivers and tweezers. He looked down at them and began work once more in earnest. “Quite the eventful evening we've had,” he said while adjusting the location of several wires.

“No kidding,” Daniel said. “And to think that twelve hours ago we were sparring in a field. Feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?”  
“And since then, we have traveled four hundred miles, broken into a house, narrowly avoided being detected by a drunk man, and successfully rolled over and gotten the fingerprint of the same drunk man. I am curious to see what the next twenty-four hours will bring.”

“Sleep for me,” Daniel answered. “Listen, Lunare, I don't know how I can thank you enough for this. It certainly won't be in cash since I just used the last of it to buy a snack.”

Lunare waved a hand. “As far as I am concerned, you have already paid me back. Had it not been for you, long distance trials for Scrapmetal would still be far in the future. Dakota even supplied me with a suitable name for my creation. And lastly, I would not have even thought to design such a marvelous instrument as I have in front of me,” he said, gesturing at what he was working on.

“Still though, I don't feel right not compensating you at all,” Daniel said.

Lunare looked up at Daniel. “You wish to provide compensation? Very well,” he said and unwrapped Daniel's candy bar and pulled off a bit from the top. He popped it in his mouth and announced, “I consider myself adequately compensated.”

They shared a laugh at that and Daniel returned to his soda and candy bar. He was just finishing up when a loud roar emanated from the parking lot as a beat up white van rolled in and took up two handicapped spots. The side doors opened and a horde of grungy loud teenagers piled out. As he saw them, the attendant sighed. Clearly he had experiences with this group.

Their leader pushed to the front of horde as they burst through the front door. When he saw who it was, Daniel nearly choked on the dregs of his soda. It was Vlad, the gang leader that Daniel had run into the day he applied for Beacon. Also Dakota's old boss.

The attendant began to speak as he had with Daniel and Lunare, but Vlad stepped up and hit the counter with his fist, making everything on it jump. “Listen man,” he said, “We've been coming here once a week for about as long as I can remember. So tell me; when will it get through that thick skull of yours and into your pea-sized brain that I DON'T SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE!”

The Attendant stared back determinedly but didn't say anything further. After a moment, Vlad shrugged and waved at his goons. They swarmed the place and began raiding everything from the alcoholic beverage freezer, to the hot dog cooker. As one passed close by, Daniel tensed up. To his surprise, he was paid no more notice than Lunare. Confused, Daniel thought a moment before realizing that he was still wearing the beanie that Lunare had given him.

After he had passed, Lunare leaned over to Daniel. “Judging from your sudden tensing, I can assume you know these people.”

Daniel nodded. “Dakota used to be with them,” he answered. “I ran into their boss over there and got beat up for it,”

“I can assume then that Dakota making an appearance would be a detriment to the situation?” Lunare asked.

Daniel nodded. “I haven't gotten much out of him, but I think he left on bad terms.”

Lunare was about to say something else when one of the gang members yelled out “What on earth is that?!”

Daniel, Lunare, and the rest of the occupants of the convenience store followed his finger to Scrapmetal. Evidently they hadn't seen it when they arrived.

“That has to be the most fugly piece of crap I’ve ever seen!” he said.

Next to Daniel, it was Lunare's turn to tense up.

Vlad moved over to the window and stared out at Scrapmetal. When he got a good look, he laughed out loud. Seeing their boss laughing, the rest of the gang followed suit.

“It doesn't even have any wheels!” Vlad said. “What'd it do, fall of a dump truck?”

Lunare slowly reached into his overcoat. Noticing the movement, Daniel stopped him. “Let it go Lunare,” he said. As he did, one of the goons decided that he'd join in on the fun.

“Naw boss, I think even the dump truck didn't want it,” he said. “It's so ugly, it was probably left here on purpose.”

The rest of the gang members laughed even harder at this. And it was the final straw that broke the Ursa's back.

In one fluid motion, Lunare yanked his hand free of Daniel's, took two steps forward, pulled out his gunstaff, and lobbed it like a spear at Vlad. Hearing the mechanical sound of the staff opening, Vlad turned just in time for it to hit him square in the chest and throw him into the coffee maker behind him. Several of the pots tipped over and spilled their hot contents over the gang leader who shrieked in response.

Having thrown his weapon, Lunare strode forwards towards it. Before he had taken more than a handful of steps, his path was blocked by a big bruiser of a boy. He looked down at Lunare and leered. “Big mistake four eyes,”

“I am not the one who made a mistake,” Lunare said in a voice that could freeze molten lava. “Your first mistake was siding with your acquaintance that insulted the creations that I have built,” “Your second mistake was calling me four eyes.”

The goon laughed and swung at Lunare, who ducked underneath the blow and jabbed him in the ribs. The goon stiffened and jittered slightly in place before falling sideways into the shelves, knocking them over. Lunare stood up and removed a battery from his contraption and replaced it with a fresh battery.

At this point, Vlad had stumbled to his feet. Evidently he had an activated Aura, since despite being hit with a razor sharp blade and covered in scalding coffee, he was merely out of breath and holding where he had been hit. “That, punk is a walking corpse,” Vlad hissed to his henchmen in pain. “Make him lie down.”

The rest of the gang surged forwards, but the rows of shelves made things difficult as they could only attack him in ones or twos. Lunare took advantage of this by jabbing him with his instrument and shoving his body backwards into those waiting behind him. As they tumbled to the ground, Lunare leapt over them and dove for his gunstaff, only for it to be pushed out of his reach by a goon with an electric sword staff. Lunare stood up to face the staff wielder, pushing his glasses up as he did.

The gang member swung at Lunare who skillfully dodged out of the way and said “the addition of a thicker blade than necessary creates a heavily overbalanced weapon leading to excessive tiring and slower swings.”

The goon frowned and stabbed at Lunare who stepped backwards while putting on a pair of gloves he pulled from his overcoat. “Coupled with poor fighting stances makes it a wonder how you ever manage to fight in the first place.

Starting to breathe heavily now, the gang member made a wild overhead swing that Lunare simply caught with his hands.

“Furthermore, your blade is duller than a butter knife, which suggests you primarily rely on alternate means of incapacitating your opponents, or victims in your case. Judging from the battery you so haphazardly attached directly below the blade with electrical tape and wire, it is safe to assume that the alternate means is electricity; a force that can be repelled by simple kitchen gloves and neutralized by removing its source from the equation,” he said as he slid one hand down the length of the blade and plucked the battery from its perch. He then grabbed the goon's arm and twisted it hard, wrenching it out of it socket. The goon fell and Lunare caught the swordstaff as it came out of nerveless fingers. “All in all a highly inferior offensive system,” Lunare said.

Meanwhile, the goons that had been knocked over finally managed to free themselves. Daniel, who up until this point had sat back, unsure as to what to do, saw his chance. He stepped forward to face the gang members and reached for his sword, only to realize that it was gone. He searched frantically for it on his belt before realizing where it was. Lunare, who had taken it to help the trio remain incognito, had yet to return it. Daniel hastily tried to withdraw, but it was too late. Vlad's goons had noticed him and several were advancing steadily while the others moved in to take on Lunare.

“Lunare! Sword!” Daniel called out frantically.

“I'm afraid I am slightly preoccupied at the moment Daniel,” Lunare replied, fending off several goons at the same time with the poorly designed swordstaff as he slowly made his way over to where his gunstaff lay.

Daniel sighed in resignation and reached into the back of his jeans and brought out his pistol. He didn't grasp it in its usual fashion; rather, he gripped it by the barrel. Suddenly he had a hammer. And it was a lot better than just fists.

The first gang member that got within range received a blow to the side of the face that knocked loose several teeth, knocking him out like a light. The next in line, having seen what happened to his friend, was more cautious. When Daniel aimed an overhead strike, he dodged around and struck twice with a pair of brass knuckles into Daniel's side. Daniel yelled in pain as pain lanced through his body. He stumbled to the side and wildly swung his impromptu hammer in the direction of his assailant. It connected with another gang member who fell backwards into his compatriots, but did little to improve the situation.

Daniel was beginning to regain his balance, when a pair of thick burly arms wrapped themselves around his body and put him in a full nelson. He struggled against the hold and his assaulter laughed. “Damn, you are one helluva slippery S.O.B. aren't you?”

Daniel grunted and lifted his legs to try and kick his way free, but his assaulter threw him against the glass door of the refrigerator. It cracked and Daniel's world blacked out, only to be jarred awake as he left the assailant's grip and crashed into a shelf. Despite being awake, Daniel was heavily dazed. Dimly, he heard the attendant yelling in his language to try and restore order. Groaning, he looked up at his assailant. In his hand was the beanie Lunare gave him. He was staring at Daniel with an amazed look on his face. Then it disappeared, only to be replaced by a leering grin. Evidently he had recognized Daniel.

It was at that moment that a loud succession of booming noises came from behind Daniel along with the attendant’s cry of “ _Madre Dios!”,_ Daniel's assailant's face turned white as he dove for cover as bullets ripped through the air above him. Evidently, Lunare had found his gunstaff.

Daniel struggled to his feet to see Lunare holding his gunstaff at the hip and steadily firing towards the gang. One of them evidently had enough use of his Aura to provide for a semblance. They had somehow pulled the flooring and concrete beneath it to for a wall for them to hide behind. Vlad had positioned himself behind the rest of his goons and was shouting orders and obscenities left and right. When Lunare stopped firing for a moment, several braver goons ventured out in hopes of catching Lunare without any amunition. They were sadly mistaken as Lunare simply switched the ends of his gunstaff around and continued firing from the opposite end.

“Lunare! I would really like my sword now!” Daniel yelled forcefully. He was not going to be beaten up by the goons that were slowly crawling towards him just because he didn't have his weapon. And he wasn't about to start firing into their midsts for fear of hitting one that didn't have an activated Aura.

Lunare looked over at Daniel and back at the wall where several goon's faces would appear every time he let off the trigger. He then sighed and stopped firing long enough to unclip Daniel's sword and sheath from his own belt and toss them over the heads of the goons; straight into Daniel's arms. He unsheathed his saber and clipped its sheath back to its familiar place on his belt. He gave the saber a twirl and looked down at his opposition, his confidence growing now that he had his familiar weapon in his hand.

Meanwhile, Lunare was in a spot of trouble. In the time it had taken to throw Daniel's saber, the Vlad had several of his goons run out from cover and close the gap between themselves and Lunare. Unable to attack with the machine guns in his staff and backed up against the bathroom door, there was little that Lunare could do. One of them, a massive faunus with tatoos on his left bicep, was holding a massive chainsaw sword that he revved in anticipation. Not waiting for him to strike, Lunare charged the faunus, ducked under the raised blade, and rammed his shoulder into his gut, sending him and the goons behind him stumbling backwards. Lunare then retreated back just enough to be able to use his gunstaff effectively, leveled it at them, and pulled the trigger

_Click_

He had run out of ammo.

Lunare quickly opened the portion in the staff shaft where he loaded the ammunition and reached into his coat for a new clip. Seeing his opportunity, the faunus revved the chainsaw once more and charged Lunare. Lunare looked up just in time to see the chainsaw descending down on him. He awkwardly lifted his gunstaff up to block the overhand strike. The chainsaw hit hard and stuck into the staff. It held for a moment before the chainsaw cut through the staff and down towards Lunare. Lunare stumbled backwards and fell on his back, his gunstaff neatly cut in two in the middle clattered beside him.

“No!” Daniel yelled. He was engaged in combat with another of Vlad's goons and across the store. Desperately, he punched his opponent in the jaw with the guard of his sword, giving him enough time to aim with the pistol in his left hand and fire off four shots at the faunus. All but one struck him but despite being .45 caliber bullets, his Aura protected him and did little more than cause a slight stumble. He looked down at Lunare and grinned. “Time to die punk,” he said. He squeezed the trigger and the chainsaw roared to its maximum speed. He was beginning to raise it to end Lunare when the door to the bathroom exploded off its hinges. It flew over Lunare and crashed into the faunus. The chainsaw caught on the wooden door and was wrenched from his hands.

Dakota stood in the entryway to the bathroom, his foot extended in the kick that had knocked the door off its hinges; his lead pipe in his left hand; his chain in his right, uncoiled, and on fire. He strode past Lunare who had grabbed the two halves of his gunstaff and was slowly standing back up. Vlad peered around the wall which had taken a direct hit from the door and was missing a sizable gap. He saw Dakota and snarled. “You,” he said in rage.

“Me,” Dakota answered. He gave his chain a flick, sending fire flying around the store. The attendant ducked under the counter and whimpered. “Vlad, we can all still walk away from this. You go your way, we'll go ours. No one else needs to get hurt.”

“I don't take orders from _you_ of all people,” Vlad said. “Not now, not ever.”

“I'm not ordering anything Vlad,” Dakota said. “I'm only asking that we-”

At that moment, the faunus stood up and tried to wrap his massive arms around Daktota's head. Dakota ducked and slammed his pipe into his stomach, then followed up with his chain, which he flicked around the faunus' arm and yanked him to the ground. The faunus hit hard and tried to sweep his Dakota's feet out from under him. Dakota jumped and kicked his head into the shelves, knocking him out for good.

Dakota turned back to reason with Vlad, but it was not to be. The faunus' attack snapped the tenuous cease fire that began when Dakota entered. Lunare advanced with the two halves of his gunstaff, wielding them like they were two swords. Dakota whipped his chain down on a shelf, cutting it in two and allowing him to shove an opening to bypass the goons that Lunare had begun fighting, and get closer to Vlad. Vlad shrieked orders, and Daniel engaged another goon, mace against sword. It was an all-out brawl once more.

Dakota knocked aside a clumsy swing from a spear and wrapped his chain around the forearm of another goon. The goon shrieked in pain as the hot metal burned into his skin. Dakota yanked the chain loose and the goon collapsed, sobbing and clutching his burned arm. The remaining two goons that stood between him and Vlad dropped their weapons and scattered, giving Dakota a straight shot at the gang leader.

“Traitors!” Vlad shrieked at his two fleeing subordinates. “Get back here at once!”

“Awfully hard to command respect when your orders leave your crew a wreck, isn't it Vlad?” Dakota said in a low voice. “I'll ask one more time. Stop this, and we can all walk away.”

“You always were too soft Dakota,” Vlad said. He pulled out a butterfly knife and twirled it open. Always the first to avoid a fight, always unwilling to fight, to go in for the kill. I don't even know why I kept you around.”

Dakota brought his pipe down on Vlad's wrist, hard. Something crunched and the butterfly knife dropped from nerveless fingers. Dakota grabbed Vlad by the shirt and shoved him into a display case. “You 'kept me around',” Dakota said in a deadly low voice, “Because you knew that when push came to shove, I was the best brawler in our turf, and the turf of most nearby gangs. And the only reason I stayed around was because you and the rest of the gang were the closest thing to a family that actually wanted me. Isn't that sick? An orphan has to rely on a gang to satisfy his need of fitting in.”

Dakota threw Vlad to the side. He crashed to the ground and clutched his wrist in pain. “I've found a new family Vlad. And if you so much as touch a single hair on their heads, it'll be the last thing you'll ever do. And you know what that means all too well.”

Vlad picked up his butterfly knife with his non injured hand and was crawling to his feet when a goon launched by Lunare crashed into Vlad, jarring his broken wrist. The two collapsed and Vlad howled in agony. He didn't try to get up again.

At this point, the battle was wrapping up. Lunare had pinned most of his attackers with a shelf he had kicked over. When they tried to push it up, he added a second shelf and sat on top of the pile, examining his broken gunstaff with unhappiness, yet mild curiosity as well. Daniel had a nasty bruise on his cheek from hitting the refrigerator door and a cut on his arm, but was otherwise okay. When his remaining attackers realized that they were all that was left, the quickly surrendered. They had won. Dakota sighed and extinguished his chain before wrapping it around his arm. He checked under the fingerless glove of his right hand to check the bleeding levels. Steady but slow. He was safe.

Something ticked in the back of his mind. Something from his time in Vlad's gang. Faintly, he could hear a noise. A noise that always set him on edge, made him wonder if he needed to run.

A police siren.

He whirled around just in time to see several police cars swerve into the fuel station and discharge several police officers per car. They threw open the door and pointed their pistols directly at Dakota.

“Shit,” Dakota swore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes. Chapter 15. Honestly this was one of my favorite chapters to write. It is literally a classic bar room brawl, except it's in a gas station convenience store. Same difference. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to bookmark, kudo, or comment if you liked this, and I'll see you all next week with another chapter.


	16. Chapter 16

“Name?”

“Daniel Grigio.”

“Age?”

“Seventeen.”

“Gender?”

“Swear to God, please don't start.”

The officer looked up at Daniel with a hint of annoyance in his eyes. “You and your two compatriots entered a fuel station and left it in ruins. You cost the owner tens of thousands of Lien in damages, and closed his business for what will most likely be months. I will start whatever I want to young man.”

Daniel groaned and rubbed his eyes. “I'm a guy, I'm human, and please don't-”

“Sexual Identification?”

“Goddammit.”

When the police had arrived, Daniel, Dakota, and Lunare had been separated from each other. Since then, Daniel had endured a ride in the back of a police car (not a welcome experience), sat in a cell for hours, and was now forced to answer a disturbingly familiar list of questions. Today was shaping up to be just perfect and the sun had only just come up.

The officer finished up asking the questions and left Daniel alone. He sat on the cold metal folding chair and looked around at his surroundings. He was in a small concrete room with a dim bulb hanging over an old rickety wooden table bolted to the floor. There was a metal loop installed into the table where a set of handcuffs were attached to by a zip cord. Evidently the local police department lacked funds to have a state of the art interrogation room. They didn't even have proper prison uniforms. Daniel was currently dressed in a pair of orange-ish sweat pants, and an orange t-shirt, both of which itched like crazy. The only part of the room that looked even vaguely new were the electronic shackles attached to his hands. Even Dakota and Lunare would have troubles picking these.

As Daniel made these observations, the door opened, letting in another officer holding a manila folder in one hand and another folding chair in the other. He set up the chair and sat down in it, opening the folder as he did so. “Daniel Grigio,” he said. “Age Seventeen, currently living with your father, no arrests, although it says here that you have been caught several times attempting to steal out of donation boxes.”

Daniel fumed at this. It wasn't fair. His father bought exactly two types of things. Beer, and other varieties of alcohol, leaving Daniel to scramble with whatever was left of that month's money to buy food and keep the house in one piece. If he hadn't raided the donation boxes, he undoubtedly would still be in his clothes from kindergarten.

“That's not correct sir,” Daniel said.

The officer looked up. “Are you accusing Vale of having false records son?” he asked icily.

“I'm saying they have out of date records sir,” Daniel replied. “I've been enrolled and living at Beacon for just under three weeks.”

The officer laughed humorlessly. “Oh, I see what you're trying to do here,” he said. “You're trying to get the government to pay for the damages you and your friends caused under the impression that this was all done by Huntsmen.”

“Well, yeah. That's because it was,” Daniel said.

The officer leaned over the desk at Daniel. “You think you can pull the wool over my eyes boy? Well it's not going to work. You would not believe how many times I've been told that exact same lie. It hardly ever changes. You want to add impeding an investigation to your charges, or do you want to start telling me the truth?”

Daniel looked at him hard. This officer was treating him exactly like everyone else used to back in his town. Like he was dirt. Like they all were above him. He had endured it then because considering he was the son of the town drunk, they had a bit of a reason to. Not this officer though. He was supposed to be above this.

Something in his eyes caused the officer to shudder and look away nervously. “I feel like I would like to call Beacon and sort this out,” Daniel said in a low voice, almost a growl. He had no idea what caused the officer to become so nervous all of the sudden, but he didn't want to lose momentum.

At that moment, the door opened. The officer whirled around, grateful that something had stolen his attention. “What are you doing? He demanded. I specifically said I was to be left alone during this interrogation.

“I'm terribly sorry officer, but considering the fact that you are conducting this interrogation with false information, I felt it necessary to intervene,” Professor Glas said as he stepped through the door opened by the officer that had questioned Daniel.

Daniel slumped in relief. He had no idea how Professor Glas had found out what had happened or how he had gotten here so fast, but he was glad he was here.

The officer stood up and faced Professor Glas. “And who just might you be?”

“I am Professor Arthur Glas,” Professor Glas replied. “I am a professor at Beacon. I teach battlefield tactics and combat first aide to the students. When we were informed of the incident that took place earlier this morning, I came immediately. There have been some unexpected delays in entering Mr. Grigio's information into the system, and it was decided that it was for the best for a Beacon official to come and make certain no misunderstandings were made.”

“So you're telling me that this boy is a Huntsman?” the officer asked incredulously.

“Huntsman in training to be precise,” Professor Glas rectified. “But he still has the same rights and privileges of a fully-fledged Huntsman. The only difference being we will be having an inquiry to make certain Mr. Grigio was within his bounds to act in the way he has. That however will be taken care of by Beacon staff.” He then turned to Daniel. “If you would stand Daniel, we can leave.”

Daniel held up his shackled hands, still attached to the table by a zip tie. Professor Glas saw this and reached into his suit and brought out a scalpel. In one fluid throw he tossed through the air and through the zip tie. It sliced through it like butter and sunk into the table. Daniel stood up and yanked the scalpel out of the table. The officer flinched at this and his hand strayed towards his handgun on his belt, but was stopped by a motion from Professor Glas' hand. Daniel walked over to Professor Glas and offered the scalpel to him handle first. The professor took it, but accidentally sliced Daniel's palm with the blade as he did so.

Professor Glas' eyes widened as he saw what he had done. Quickly he put the scalpel away and pulled out a small flat first aide kit. Within seconds, Daniel's hand was sufficiently bandaged and Professor Glas was apologizing profusely. “I assure you Daniel, this never happens.”

“Hey, it's okay sir,” Daniel said. “I hardly felt it.”

Inside though, he was cursing his head off. He had gotten very lucky. Right now the cut could be written off as a depleted Aura. Any other time would attract attention and possibly even let his secret out.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Professor Glas turned back to the officer. “I don't believe that there is any reason for Mr. Grigio to remain shackled, now is there?”

The officer frowned, but did as Professor Glas suggested. He pulled a fob from his belt and held it close to the shackles. He pressed a button and the shackles chirped once before coming undone and falling to the floor.

Rubbing his wrists, Daniel followed Professor Glas down the hallway. The walls of the hallway were lined with jail cells some of them empty, others containing occupants, all of them filthy. Daniel shuddered. Professor Glas had just saved him from a particularly nasty fate.

As they reached the end of the hallway, a commotion could be heard on the other side of the door at the end. Professor Glas opened it to reveal Lunare being roughly handled by two officers.

“All that I am saying is that if you didn't want me to open the door to my cell, you shouldn't leave two hair pins in the sink,” Lunare protested as he was forced to his knees. “And furthermore, the locks themselves are in horrible shape, and not even close to being as complex as a jail cell lock should be!”

“What on Remnant is going on here?” the officer from the interrogation room demanded. “I thought I told you two to check on the prisoners, not let them out!”

One of them stood up straight and saluted to the officer, indicating that he was his superior officer. “Sir, we entered the room and caught this one exiting his cell on his own. Apparently we missed a set of lockpicks on him.”

“As I informed you, they were merely hair pins,” Lunare corrected indignantly. “I have never carried a set of lockpicks, nor will I ever. I see no reason when a universal key can be created with household parts and a simple microchip!”

The officer sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Please tell me that someone was watching the cameras and saw this.”

“That brings me to my second issue. You have a single camera watching an entire wing of cells on a fifteen second cycle. That gave me ample time to open the door and exit.”

“Mr. Nacht,” Professor Glas said calmly, “Would you please explain why you were attempting to escape in the first place?”

Lunare's face turned red with embarrassment and raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, showing that in the time they had been talking, he had also managed to free himself from his handcuffs. The guards reacted instantly by stepping away from Lunare and raising their pistols to point them at him. Pretending not to notice them, Lunare addressed Professor Glas. “Sorry sir,” he said. “I noticed these design flaws in their prison and felt the best way to address them was for me to show they could be used to escape from their poorly designed prison. I would also like to mention that having a NFC fob that unlocks handcuffs within reach of someone who might wish to use said fob is a very poor idea.”

“Well, while I am certain that these fine officers would enjoy learning of ways to improve their holding cells, we should get going,” Professor Glas said. “I understand that Professor Ozpin is very interested as to why you three were out so early this morning.”

Lunare stood up quickly. “It was my idea sir,” he said quickly. “I overheard Daniel's issue with getting a fingerprint from his father and I-”

Professor Glas held up a hand to stop Lunare. “Calm down Mr. Nacht,” he said, “I'm certain this can all be solved without any serious repercussions.”

The officer was about to protest, when the sounds of a scuffle broke out off in the distance. The officer paled and raced past Daniel, Professor Glas, and Lunare towards where it was coming from. The three followed quickly behind along with the two guards that had held down Lunare. They took a turn out into the open to see a large room with several of Vlad's gang lying on the ground moaning. Right in the middle of them was Dakota, panting and clutching his still shackled right hand which was bleeding from what Daniel assumed was a prison shiv since one was lying at his feet.

“They jumped me,” Dakota said simply, his eyes showing no sign of regret. “I dealt with them accordingly.”

At this point the officer had had enough. “Go!” he demanded. “Go and get the hell out of my station. You people are crazy!”

@0@0@

“One denim jacket, one pair of jeans, one pair of sneakers, one 41 inch saber, one .45 pistol with three magazines-”

“Four,” Daniel corrected.

The officer looked up from the contents of the bin with Daniel's items. “Excuse me?” he asked.

“There should be four magazines,” Daniel said. “Five if the pistol is empty.”

The officer grumbled but searched through the bin until he found the missing clips. “ _Five_ magazines,” he said. “Is there anything else that should be in here?”

“Yeah, my dignity,” Daniel said. “But I doubt that made it out of here.”

The officer sighed and pushed a paper towards Daniel. “Sign here that everything is accounted for, and move aside please so that I can help whoever's next.

Daniel signed and picked up his bin, moving towards a bathroom to change as Dakota walked up to the counter. He changed quickly, glad to be out of the prison clothes and into his worn but familiar jeans. He exited the bathroom as a very flustered officer was going through the three bins of items that they had pulled out of Lunare's coat and pants pockets.

“Forty-two nuts, thirty-six screws, one pocket electric screwdriver, six dust energy cells, one, whatever this is,” the officer said, holding up the contraption that Lunare had used to stun several of Vlad's goons.

“It is an Aural disruptor,” Lunare corrected. “I would suggest remembering the name since you will most likely be seeing more of them after I increase the battery capacity and decrease the power consumption. Currently the wires are-”

“One Aural disruptor,” the officer said over Lunare, “one set of watchmaker's tools, six feet of copper wire, another thing,”

“Universal key,” Lunare corrected once more.

“I really don't understand why you would keep so much scrap on you,” the officer said.

“While I will admit I forgot about the lug nuts, I wouldn't call any of this scrap,” Lunare said coldly. “I was capable of building a working Aural disruptor merely from those items. A device that currently is still being tested in labs funded by some of the top companies on Remnant. Including Schnee Dust Company.”

The officer sighed and looked up at Lunare. Is there anything else that is missing from here? I would appreciate it if you did not require me to name off the different sizes of wrenches again.”

Lunare gave the bins a brief once over. “I can't help but notice that Nieh Mehr and Scrapmetal were not included. While I can understand Scrapmetal due to its size, I would like to know where my gunstaff is.”

The officer grumbled and pushed his chair back into the depths of his office. After a moment he returned with the severed halves of Lunare's gunstaff and lay them on top of the three bins. “You can pick up your vehicle in the impound,” the officer said. “Sign here and please move aside.”

Lunare signed and took the bins, balancing the middle one in-between the two on the side. He carefully walked over to where Daniel was standing and set them by his feet. “Would you kindly watch over these while I change?” he asked.

Daniel nodded and Lunare grabbed his clothes from the bins and made his way into the bathroom that Daniel had just vacated. Dakota, who had been sitting and watching the whole escapade walked over to Daniel. He was still in his prison clothes.

“How can you stand those itchy clothes?” Daniel asked him.

Dakota shrugged. “This isn't the first time I’ve been in here. You get used to it after a while. Besides, I was having too much fun watching the show over there,” he said, jerking his head over to where Lunare had been regaining his personal effects. “You missed the part when the guy put a bag of potassium next to a bottle of water. Lunare went on a whole rant about how if condensation from the bottle touched even a slight amount of the potassium, all of his stuff would go up in flames.”

“Why does Lunare have potassium in his coat?” Daniel asked with confusion.

“Why does Lunare have enough parts in his pocket to build another Scrapmetal?” Dakota answered. “I don't know man; it's just what he does.”

“And I have no intention of changing,” Lunare said, fresh out of the bathroom and back in his normal outfit. He bent down over the bins and began shoving their contents back into their respective pockets. Within no time, his hands were covered in their usual grease. Dakota took this time to change as well. Soon, the three teenagers were back to normal.

Seeing that they were finished, the officer that had interrogated Daniel stepped up to them. “You may think that you've gotten away,” he said, “But next time you come around, watch your back. I will not hesitate to throw all three of your asses into solitary, and throw the key down the drain.”

“I'd give us thirty minutes to get out, thanks to Lunare,” Dakota said. “Seriously Ronald, you give that exact same speech every time I come here. It may've worked the first time, but not anymore.”

“That's Officer Ronald to you Mr. Harding!” Ronald said, his ears becoming as red as Daniel's hair. He made a move to grab Dakota's arm, but he shook it off. “I think I know the way out,” Dakota said. He pushed past Officer Ronald and headed to the door. Without any hesitation, Daniel and Lunare followed suit, eager to leave this place.

@0@0@

Professor Glas was waiting for them outside next to an old beat up car. He looked up and smiled at them. “Good. Now that you've all gotten sorted, we can get back to Beacon.”

Lunare raised a hand, as if in class. Professor Glas noticed this and nodded. “Yes Mr. Nacht?”

“If it is all the same to you sir, I would prefer to stay behind,” Lunare said. “Scrapmetal is in the impound, and I need to stop by a hardware store to fix Nieh Mehr.”

A brief frown crossed Professor Glas' face “Scrapmetal and Nieh-”

“My vehicle and my gunstaff respectively,” Lunare answered.

Professor Glas nodded. “Well then, I’ll drive you to the impound to get Scrapmetal, and we can get going. You can use the hardware store near Beacon.”

“Unfortunately the hardware store near Beacon surprisingly does not contain the tubing I require for Nieh Mehr,” Lunare replied. “Last night's battle has made me realize that making the handle thin enough to hold stacks of bullets decreases the overall structural integrity leading to the incident that befell my gunstaff. I need to not only get thicker tubing, but also parts to completely redesign the loading system. I'm thinking of putting the bullets within box magazines that lie flat on the surface of the weapons. It should actually allow for an increase in the amount of bullets per magazine, as well as-”

Professor Glas held up a hand. “I don't need an essay Lunare,” he said with a laugh. “You can go get your supplies. We'll see you back at Beacon.”

“Normally I would say _I_ will see you back at Beacon,” Lunare corrected, “but knowing myself in a hardware store, even Scrapmetal cannot make up the time I will lose there.” He waved at them and trotted off into the darkness, in search of an impound, and a hardware store.

Professor Glas reached into his pocket and brought out a car key that he used to unlock the doors to the car and usher Daniel and Dakota into the back seat. “Normally I would offer the front seat,” he said as he started the car, “But the seat-belt snapped a while back. Putting either of you up here would be a serious safety violation.”

“Wow, key unlocking and broken seatbelts; Beacon really needs to work on its cars,” Daniel joked.

“Oh, this isn't Beacon's,” Professor Glas corrected as he shifted into gear with a loud grinding and pulled out of the parking lot, “This is my personal vehicle. When I went to get you three, I was in the middle of lesson plans. There was no time for the paperwork that normally accompanies getting a school vehicle. I barely have time for my own work, let alone any request forms,” he laughed at this, but there was little humor behind it. Daniel gulped in embarrassment as he realized the inconvenience they had caused Professor Glas. He looked over at Dakota who was also visibly embarrassed by the realization that he'd just insulted his professor's car.

An awkward silence ensued, interrupted only by the grinding of gears whenever Professor Glas shifted, and the occasional honk and irritated yell from Professor Glas when someone would cut him off. This continued on for some time before Daniel decided it was best to break the ice.

“So, you fight with scalpels then?” Daniel asked.

“Hmm? Oh yes,” Professor Glas said. “I have found that they are a very unique weapon, being able to both heal and destroy at the same time. Much like my job I suppose. I teach teenagers how to fight, yet I also teach them how to save a life. Somewhat bipolar, really.”

“Did you do anything special to yours Professor?” Dakota asked, catching on to what Daniel was trying to do.

“Not much I'm afraid,” Professor Glas replied. There is only so much you can do to a scalpel before it becomes nothing more than an extremely sharp knife. But I did make mine more balanced for throwing, as you saw earlier Daniel. Also keeping with the bipolar theme, they can accept multiple different dust blades. Dust crystals can be shaped to be extremely sharp, you know.”

“Yeah,” Dakota said faintly. Daniel saw him rub the palm of his right hand. “So you say they're bipolar sir? Does that mean they can heal as well?”

Professor Glas laughed, slightly shrilly actually, which set Daniel on edge for a moment. “No, they can't heal. But they can diagnose. Say, if I were to collect a sample from either of you, be it skin, fluid, blood, anything; I could absorb them via diagnostic blades. They can then run any imaginable test in the world, and some that are quite unimaginable, let me tell you.”

Daniel frowned. Something about Professor Glas wasn't quite right. Something had changed during the car ride, and not for the better. He winced as they took a turn harder than what Daniel would've done and asked, “What kind of tests can it do?”

“I just told you! Anything! I can check to see what your blood pressure is, heart rate, brain activity, it can even check your Aura!”

Daniel felt he had been punched in the gut. Nervously, he looked down at his bandaged hand. The cut from the scalpel had seemed so innocent at the time. Now with the way Professor Glas was acting, he wasn't so certain.

“Interesting thing, Aura,” Professor Glas said. Every single creature on this planet has one, save for a handful that seem bent on destroying all of humanity. Aural study is rather difficult, since the one group of creatures that lacks them die in captivity and their bodies begin decomposing almost immediately. Without the independent group, I fear we shall never have a successful experiment that tells us about both Aura and the Grimm. Unless,”

Dakota's right hand slowly slipped towards the pouch he kept on his belt at all times. “Unless what sir?” he said in the same controlled but dangerous voice he had used with Vlad.

“Well, unless we had a test subject that was not Grimm, but completely lacked an Aura; at which point Aural research could progress leaps and bounds thanks to the study of that subject's anatomy,” Professor Glas said as he adjusted the air conditioning. “Awfully sorry boys, but this is where things get rather,, unpleasant.”

Everything happened in an instant. Dakota went for his pipe, and Professor Glas pressed the button that normally turned on the rear winshield wiper. Instead two tasers launched out of the back of the front seats and latched themselves onto Daniel and Dakota, delivering shocking jolts that left both of them violently jerking in their seats. But that wasn't what knocked them out. That would be the nerve gas that flowed from the air conditioning and into their lungs. The lights went out in their eyes and they collapsed into their seat-belts.

Professor Glas, saved by the antidote he had taken while waiting outside checked to make certain that they were both incapacitated and turned back to the front. “After all,” he said as he honked at a driver that was more interested in her Scroll than the green light, “I couldn't have both of you not cooperating in my experiments.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuuuuuun  
> Cliffhanger


	17. Chapter 17

Lunare opened the garage door and pulled Scrapmetal into its usual place, unable to keep the grin off of his face. The hardware store had exactly what he needed, and then some. An idea had been forming in his head during the drive back, and it was ready to come out.

Satisfied that Scrapmetal was situated, Lunare pulled out a portable keyboard and small LCD screen and typed a command in. The legs of Scrapmetal lifted themselves one by one off of the ground and attached to the ceiling, just as they had been the night before. He popped the trunk and turned the key, killing the engine. Scrapmetal shuddered to a halt and the deep thrum of the engine dissipated from the enclosed space. With his vehicle safely secured, Lunare leapt from the passenger seat and hurried over to his workbench, pausing only to engage a pair of hydraulic arms that would pull the Rage cooler from the back and set it down beside Scrapmetal- he'd move its contents to one of his vaults later. Right now, he had some work to do.

He pulled on a roll of drafting paper until he had a sufficient size, and sliced it off of the roll. It curled slightly at the edges, so he held them down with a tin of screws, a three week old cup of coffee, and the stabilizer for one of the joints of Scrapmetal’s front right leg that he meant to put on before they went. Oops. Good thing they hadn't tried a high speed floor to ceiling transfer. It could have caused the entire leg to fall off mid-drive, creating a potentially catastrophic crash that most likely would've killed all of them, even with Auras. He looked back at Scrapmetal and debated whether or not to go attach it but decided against it. Now was the time for designing. He did make a memo though.

“Reminder: attach stabilizer to front right leg's primary joint before taking Scrapmetal out again,” Lunare said to the empty garage. The computer on the other wall beeped twice, indicating that it had received the notice. With that out of the way, Lunare grabbed a drafting pencil from a drawer and wrote the name of his new creation at the top

LNIRobotic Operated Cannon Stabilizer.

**(A.N. LNI stands for Lunare Nacht Industries)**

“And thus we go down back down the rabbit hole,” Lunare muttered as he sketched out the design of the rifle, “Not knowing how or when I am to get out of it.”

“Sooner than you'd think boss,” A voice said behind him. Lunare sighed and put the pencil down, turning around to see Schatten standing at the entrance to the doorway. “Good morning Schatten. How can I be of service?”

“It's four in the afternoon Lunare,” Schatten corrected. “Where were you? Daniel and Dakota are gone, and Lewis is going off his rocker trying to find them!”

Lunare scratched his head. “Oh dear,” he said. “I just realized we didn't leave a note saying where we went. Really sorry about that.”

“So you were with Daniel and Dakota?” Schatten asked.

“Well yes, we went to acquire a fingerprint from Daniel's father so that Daniel could remain in school,” Lunare said. He then frowned, remembering something. “Hold on, you mean that they're not back yet?”

Schatten nodded. “As I said, Lewis is going crazy trying to find them. If you could do anything to calm him down, it would be appreciated by DDLN and our team equally.”

Lunare shook his head. “This doesn't make any sense. They should have returned before me. They left with Professor Glas.”

“Then let’s go get Lewis and go find the professor,” Schatten said, turning and running off as he did. Lunare followed as well, pausing only to lower the garage door and engage the security measures. With that, he raced after Schatten, hoping to find answers from the Professor.

@0@0@

But the professor wasn't there, nor was he the next day. There was a note on his door saying he was out of town for the weekend and would return on Monday. Without any answers, Lewis remained in a near constant state of panic as he desperately tried to find out information about his teammates, broken only by intense sessions of meditations as he desperately tried to commune with the spirits to find out something. According to him, all he got out of them was to 'wait and all that you wish for shall come to you'. He said that was the spirits answer whenever they either didn't have the answer, or did, but wouldn't tell him and wanted him to shut up.

As the hours progressed, he became almost inconsolable; to the point where Nick had Lunare fashion a strait jacket and got LSTR to help him get Lewis into it. They tried to gag him, but Lewis ate through anything they used.

It wasn't until Monday when classes resumed that Lewis was let out of the straight jacket and out of the dorm room. He tottered carefully into the dining hall like a child just learning to walk, and sat down at his usual spot with a bowl of oatmeal. Team LSTR clambered in to seats around him, watching and ready to intervene if he made a scene.

Several minutes passed before Nick sat down next to Lewis. His normal calm demeanor had been replaced by a twitching, jumpy demeanor. His usual messy but fashionable look was taken over by a completely disheveled appearance. His hair stuck out everywhere, his uniform was wrinkled and untucked, his tie was undone, and there was a three day stubble on his chin. He poured himself a cup of black coffee and drank it all in one go, like a shot glass before pouring himself another.

“Soooo,” Ryler said in an attempt to break the ice, “Can I give you back your gun yet Nick?”

Nick looked up frightened by the noise, before turning back to his mug and pouring a second cup. “Not a chance,” Nick said as he drank that cup as well. “Can't trust myself not to shoot him, and then myself. Best if you hold on to it for now Ryler. And send them candles over again tonight. Seemed to keep him slightly quieter.”

“Can do!” Ryler said happily. He was possibly the only one among them that seemed unaffected by Lewis' breakdown.

“I am positive that everyone on our floor was most gracious for last night,” Tiberius said. “I for one actually fell asleep for a moment, before his infernal yelling woke me up again.

“That'd be my fault,” Nick said. “Didn't realize the candle had gone out. 'fore I could git a 'nother one lit, he started all over again'. At this rate, I'm gonna have to buy stock in your mother's company Ryler.”

“Don't worry,” Ryler assured him. “My mother sends me free samples whenever I ask. She calls it good advertising.”

“Daniel likes oatmeal,” Lewis commented, stirring his congealing breakfast. He had acquired a far off look, and began twitching uncontrollably

“Oh dear,” Lunare said, recognizing the signs. To his right, Schatten swore.

“He always had at least one bowl for breakfast,” Lewis said. “Really big bowls. Sometimes he even had two. He said he never knew why he ate it. Said he couldn't stand the consistency.”

To Lewis' left, Nick frantically reached into his pockets and brought out a pair of earplugs. Screwing them in, he looked at Schatten. They shared a brief nod, and tensed up waiting.

“It's pretty silly really,” Lewis said. “I-I mean, why eat something if you don't like it. It's stupid m-m-man. St-t-tupid.”

“Brace for impact!” Schatten yelled out to the cafeteria. Those who had dorms on the same floor as DDLN and LSTR stood up and scrambled to get as far away from Lewis as possible. The rest looked around, confused.

Nick grabbed Lewis around the arms in a full nelson and Schatten pushed back his chair and launched himself at Lewis. Just as he left the ground, Lewis came loose.

@0@0@

Professor Glas was bent over a microscope looking at something within a petri dish when the door to his office burst open and Lewis was carried in by Nick and Schatten. Lewis was babbling gibberish, and all of their uniforms were torn nearly beyond repair.

Professor Glas looked up from the microscope and his eyes widened. “Good Lord!” he said in shock. “You boys look like you've been through a blender!”

“More like a psychotic hippie,” Schatten replied. “I'd advise not going to the cafeteria any time soon, Professor.”

“See-through, transparent; no, opaque! Very opaque!” Lewis cried out.

Lunare appeared behind them, one of his lenses cracked, the other missing entirely. “We figured it would be for the best if we brought him to you sir.”

Professor Glas stood up and grabbed a labcoat off of a chair. “By the looks of things, I’d say you made the right decision Mr. Nacht,” he flipped a switch on a control panel, and a section of the floor parted to allow an examination table to rise from the ground. The two put him on the table as Professor Glas grabbed a tablet from the table and began tapping on it. “Let's see here,” he murmured, “Lemon, Lemon, Lemon, ah! Here we go. Age seventeen, male, Human,” he frowned a little at this but continued. “Records do not show any parentage, although all of his paperwork is in order. Tell me, was this the first time this has happened?”

“No sir,” Lunare answered. “Lewis has been experiencing, extreme emotions for two days. We felt that he would be able to work through them on his own, but with his most violent reaction happening approximately fifteen minutes ago, it was decided that he needed help.”

“Sir?” Lewis said, trying to sit up. “Important, official, leader, no! Helper, healer, medic, DOCTOR!” Lewis continued.

Professor Glas pushed Lewis back down and spoke calmly to him. “That's right Lewis. I am a doctor. You are in my office. You are safe now.”

“No, Noooooooooo!” Lewis moaned. “Doctor bad. Hurt friends,” his eyes seemed to focus on Professor Glas. “You. You! YOU!” he roared. He broke free of the hands Lunare, Nick, and Schatten had placed on him and lunged for Professor Glas, his eyes dark with anger. The professor backed up rapidly in surprise, opened up his coat, and reached into his suit to grab-

_BANG!_

Ice formed around Lewis's head and he crashed to the table, out like a light. The four of them turned around to see Ryler holding Nick's smoking gun, his pink hair smoldering and even messier than it usually was.

“Wow, you guys are really loud!” Ryler said. “I was getting worried you guys were having fun without me!”

“Ryler,” Lunare said as calmly as he could manage. “You do realize that Lewis can't breathe through ice, correct?”

“Don't worry Lunare, I checked the cylinder. I've got a fire shot next.”

“No you don't!” Nick said frantically, trying to stop Ryler from firing but he was too slow. Ryler pulled the trigger and with another _BANG_ , Lewis' head was covered in even more ice.

“Huh, I could have sworn there was a fire shot next,” Ryler said. “Let me try again.”

Nick yanked his gun away from Ryler before he could cause even more harm. “I got reduced shot into the gun,” Nick said as he opened the cylinder, checked the bullets, and fired twice into the ice block that was Lewis' head. “I git three shots per bullet.”

“Really?” Lunare said as he stared at the smoking gun. “I was under the impression that reduced shot was purely theoretical and had yet to be properly implemented.”

“I would prefer if you kept that impression,” Nick said briefly. He brushed some of the remaining ice off of Lewis' head as Professor Glas hurriedly checked his pulse, confirming he was stable.

Lunare briefly eyed the revolver sitting comfortably but firmly within Nick's hand before turning his attention back to Lewis, who was murmuring discontentedly in his sleep.

Professor Glas grabbed a gauze pad from his table and wiped his forehead with it. His face was pale with fear and he was breathing heavily. “Has he, has he talked like that before?” he asked them.

“Never heard him or anyone else talk quite like that,” Nick said. “Sounded almost like a possession.”

“Well, he is really into communing with his spirits,” Ryler said. “Maybe that's what he was doing.”

“This is without a doubt one of the more peculiar cases I have seen,” Professor Glas said. He grabbed a mask and placed it upon Lewis' mouth. He flipped a switch and a vapory gas flowed down the tube and into Lewis' system. The murmuring stopped and he became more calm and serene than he had been in the past week.

With Lewis sedated, Professor Glas took a syringe and drew a sample of blood from Lewis' arm. He then pulled a small machine from his coat and inserted the needle into a small access port on the side. The machine hummed for several seconds as lines of text scrolled onto the miniature screen on its front. Professor Glas read what it said and frowned. “Oh my,” he muttered. “That is quite unexpected.”

“Unexpected; is Lewis going to die?” Ryler asked in desperation.

“What? No! Of course not,” Professor Glas said. “You friend is fine. Quite healthy actually. What is unexpected is that there are no symptoms of anything that would cause such delirium. Unless,,, interesting.” Professor Glas looked up from the machine and at the teenagers in front of him. “It would appear that your friend is suffering from both depression, and a withdrawal.”

Teams LSTR and DDLN shifted nervously. They both knew of Lewis' indulgence of certain substances.

“Unfortunately I cannot discern what substance he is experiencing withdrawals from,” Professor Glas admitted. “Without the proper equipment, which I lack, I believe only Mr. Lemon can tell us that,” he removed the mask from Lunare and a faint wisp of the gasses escaped into the air which Professor Glas wafted away. “Providing that the substances are non-damaging, I would suggest finding out what they are and allowing Mr. Lemon to consume them. If they are in fact harmful, I'm afraid you will have to simply wait things out until the withdrawal is over. If he takes a turn for the worse, don't hesitate to come by my office.” He looked up at them. “How many of you does it take to control these outbursts?”

“They have been getting progressively worse as time passes,” Lunare said. “The most recent required all five of us to subdue him.”

Professor Glas sighed, then pulled from a desk a stack of small slips of paper. He filled out six of them and handed them to Lunare. “You are all excused from classes today for medical reasons. “If these symptoms persist to tomorrow, I highly suggest you bring him to me for sedation.”

They thanked Professor Glas, and Lunare and Schatten grabbed Lewis by the arms and carried him from Professor Glas's office. When the door closed, Professor Glas lowered the examination table and moved back over to the table with the microscope. He let out a breath he didn't know he was still holding. He had gotten very lucky. Had any of them been less focused on Lewis and looked around his office, they could've laid their eyes on documents that would be very embarrassing for him.

Grabbing a folder, he pulled an X-ray out and placed it on a lit-up panel. It showed the chest section of a human male. There was a name in the upper left corner

**SUBJECT: GRIGIO, DANIEL**

“What exactly are you hiding from me, Mr. Grigio?” he pondered out loud.

@0@0@

“I cannot believe that you would forget such an important question!” Tiberius yelled. “You were in the room TALKING with the last person we know who saw them, and you didn't ask?”

They were in LSTR's dorm room- across the hall from DDLN's. Both doors were opens, so that they could keep an eye on the sleeping form of Lewis, all trussed up in his straight jacket.

“Leave it Ty,” Schatten said. “We were more concerned about Lewis than asking questions. We can ask him after class tomorrow.”

“Ask him after class tomorr- do you realize what you just said means? We have to spend another night dealing with him!” Tiberius said, pointing at a sleeping Lewis.

“Calm down Tiberius,” Nick warned.

“Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down at this moment?” Tiberius demanded in an increasingly loud voice.

“You will if you want that bull over there to stay sleepin',” Nick answered.

Tiberius looked fearfully over at Lewis who had turned over in response to the outburst, but still remained asleep.

“It might not be necessary to be forced to deal with Lewis another night,” Lunare said, “Now that we know exactly what Lewis is going through, we can attempt to rectify the situation. If he is going through withdrawal we can simply give him the drugs once more.”

“Bit more difficult than you're makin' it out to be,” Nick said. “Lewis threw his stash down the john. He's completely out.”

“Then we get some more,” Lunare said. “Ryler, you contact your mother and get as many scented candles as you possibly can. Tiberius and I will go replenish Lewis' stash.”

“Just one moment!” Tiberius protested. “I cannot be seen acquiring drugs! My father is a board member of Schnee Dust! If I am caught, it'll be the ruin of our family!”

“Very well Tiberius,” Lunare said with a slight smile, “You can either go with Ryler to get more candles, or you can stay here with either Nick or Schatten and control Lewis should he wake up.”

Tiberius looked at the smiling face of Ryler, then at the sleeping form of Lewis. Then back at Ryler, then back at Lunare. He then held out his hand to Lunare. “Coat, now.”

Lunare calmly surrendered his overcoat to Tiberius. Tiberius slid it over his shoulders, grimacing at the dirt, and grunting at the surprising weight of it. The coat was far denser than he would have imagined, even for one filled with metal scraps and trinkets. To finish the ensemble, he yanked Nick's hat off of his head and planted it firmly upon his head. “I cannot guarantee that I will not kill each and every single one of you if this fails,” Tiberius warned irritably. “Starting with the hippie.”

“Then it would be prudent to complete our tasks before Lewis wakes up,” Lunare said. “I am not certain any of us can experience another outburst without going through with rash and violent actions we would all regret-”

“Oh shut up Lunare!” Tiberius demanded. “Let's just get going before I lose my nerve.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry for not putting this up last week.  long story short things got crazy right before thanksgiving, and by the time it was over I wanted to do as little things as possible. Hopefully this won't happen next week for finals.

**Warning: drugs are really bad. Lewis does not make the best decisions in the world. I do not condone the use of any drugs, be they gateway, or hardcore. Just because Lewis does them does not mean that they are good. Thank you and have a nice day.**

Lewis sat unencumbered on his bed. Half a dozen scented candles burned throughout the room, casting both an eerie glow in the otherwise unlit room, and a noxious scent that only Lewis and Ryler seemed unaffected by. He took a deep draft from his joint and exhaled, his eyes crossing slightly.

“So allow me to get this straight,” Tiberius said. “You have no idea what happened this weekend, and you still think today is Saturday?”

Lewis looked up. “Yeah man, I must've been on one serious spirit journey.”

“If that was indeed a 'spirit journey', I would prefer it if you refrained from ever having one again,” Tiberius said. “You have left our entire floor sleep deprived, the cafeteria completely trashed, and forced me to go to the most shady part of town just to buy the drugs you are now smoking!”

Lewis looked at the joint in his hand. “Well that certainly explains the poor quality I got here man. You have to go find the high class dealers to get the good stuff.”

“You had better be grateful” Tiberius seethed. “Lunare and I got mugged on the way back.”

“Oh please, Lunare fought them off with his disruptor. You didn't even get your suit dirty,” Schatten said from outside the room. His Faunus heritage made him extremely susceptible to strong smells. He had excused himself when Nick had lit the half dozen candles within the room.

Lewis finished the joint and tossed it into the trashcan. “So, where's Daniel and Dakota? I haven't seen those dudes since yesterday.”

The group shifted nervously and looked to Lunare, the only team leader among them. Lunare looked back at them, then spoke, picking his words with extreme caution. “Lewis, we don't know where Daniel and Dakota are. Do you remember the documents Professor Ozpin gave Daniel to have filled out?”

“Yeah man. Then Goodwitch caused me to lose all of my stash,” Lewis answered with a tinge of remorse. “I had some brownies in there. They were some good brownies to.”

“Well Daniel needed his father's fingerprint to complete the final form. So I took both him and Dakota to acquire the needed fingerprint. We were successful, but were arrested and split up. Daniel and Dakota left Professor Glas but never arrived at Beacon.”

Lewis shivered. “Man, something don't sit well with me and Professor Glas right now. I feel, cold. Man, I never feel cold after lighting up.”

“Well, you did go for his throat in his office,” Ryler offered. “And some of the things you said kind of sounded like you were talking about him.”

Lunare looked up at this and pushed his glasses still broken glasses up as he did so. “Lewis, have you ever had one of these, episodes before?”

Lewis shrugged. “How should I know man? No one seems to want to tell me what happened whenever I have a blank spot like this. You guys are the first.”

“I wonder why,” Tiberius muttered.

Lunare shot him a warning look. “It could be that your subconscious is attempting to tell you something. Perhaps it has realized what is going on but is incapable of informing your conscious.”

“Or it could be the spirits man,” Lewis said hopefully.

“Oh please don't start again,” Tiberius moaned.

Lewis stood up unexpectedly, an emotion flashing in his eyes that they others had never see there- irritation. “Listen man,” he said, “I respect your opinions, so the least you could do for me is respect mine. I know what I know, and you know what you know. Can we stick to that?”

“Not when what you 'think' you know is incorrect beyond even the shadow of a doubt,” Tiberius shot back. “Tell me, what will it take to get it through your drug addled brain that there are no spirits talking to you!”

“Man, you need to calm down a bit” Lewis said. “I am not appreciatin' your attitude towards my lifestyle.”

Tiberius began to stand, but was held back by Lunare. Lewis likewise was restrained from further action by both Schatten and Nick.

“Enough,” Schatten ordered, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the room he just entered. “Arguing about whether or not spirits exist is not going to help us find Daniel and Dakota. The only person that may know anything is Professor Glas, and we can't ask him anything until tomorrow. We've all had a long day with barely any sleep to work off of. Team LSTR will go back to their room, and Team DDLN will stay in theirs. Agreed?”

The two teenagers glared at each other for a moment before both nodding in concession. The two teams separated and LSTR left for their room.

“I will join the rest of you shortly,” Lunare said to Schatten as they exited. I still have repairs that must be finished for Nieh Mier to be combat ready once more.”

“You do realize combat practice isn't until Thursday, right boss? Schatten asked. “You can always finish tomorrow.”

“I feel uncomfortable being completely defenseless,” Lunare answered. Schatten snickered in amusement at this. “Besides, I have a feeling that like it or not, we will all need our weapons before Thursday.

@0@0@

Daniel woke up in what was most definitely not his bed. He was pretty certain his bed didn't have straps holding his appendages down.

Confused, Daniel looked around. Wherever he was, it was dim. And quite cold. In fact, whatever he was on was freezing, especially his backside, which was in contact with the metal surface. It was like he was wearing a hospital gown and on a Doctor's examination table.

_A doctor's examination table_

In an instant, everything came flooding back to him. The break in, the fight, the subsequent arrest and release; it all came back in a massive rush. And then he reached the point where Professor Glas revealed that he knew Daniel's secret. And he knew what had happened to him. He began jerking around in an attempt to free himself, crying out for help. But not only was he bound to the table, he was also firmly gagged, letting nothing more than a muffled yell out.

“So you're awake then,” a voice said in the dim.

Daniel lifted his head as much as he could to see what who it was, but they were out of his sight. The person saw this and laughed. “Don't worry,” he said. “You are firmly secured to the table. You can't hurt yourself, or me.”

A lightbulb flicked on, shining brightly in the darkness, illuminating the small room that both he and Professor Glas were in. As the table suggested, they were in a doctor’s office. But unlike the few doctors’ offices that Daniel had visited, which had been extremely neat and tidy, this one was cluttered beyond belief. Tools lay everywhere without any real purpose, supplies hung out of open cupboards, it all looked like Lunare's garage.

Professor Glas noticed Daniel's wandering eyes and blushed with embarrassment. “I apologize for the clutter, but I simply wasn't ready when the opportunity came up to bring you,” he said. “I was working on the operating room when I was notified of your arrest. I still haven't even found a suitable third candidate.”

Daniel frowned at this. 'Third candidate'? He wasn't even aware there was a second candidate.

As if on cue, something on his right next to the wall groaned. Daniel turned his head to see Dakota lying on a similar table, bound, gagged, and in a hospital gown.

“Ah, Mr. Harding. So nice of you to join us,” Professor Glas said with a grin, as if Dakota had just walked in on a tutoring session between the two of them.

Dakota in return strained against his bounds, screaming what Daniel could vaguely make out as a very long line of intricate and connecting insults. To Daniel's surprise, his bonds were showing signs of giving.

“Oh dear, that would be your semblance wouldn't it?” Professor Glas said worriedly. “I'd better get your system flushed before this becomes an issue,” Professor Glas moved to a cabinet and pulled a box of syringes out. “While I don’t have the necessary equipment set up for the procedure, a mild sedative should suffice for the present.”

Dakota strained even harder as Professor Glas filled a syringe with a clear colorless liquid. As he approached, Dakota actually managed to get his right arm free of the strap. He immediately went for the strap holding his left arm, but Professor Glas caught mere inches away. Dakota tried to continue, but Professor Glas' thumb found a point on his arm and pressed, hard. The room was instantly filled with the muffled screams of pain from Dakota, giving Professor Glas the opportunity to jab the syringe into his arm and press the plunger down. Dakota's strength instantly weakened and Professor Glas was able to remove his thumb from the pressure point, letting the arm flop lifelessly to Dakota's chest.

“There, now that wasn't so bad, now was it?” Professor Glas asked as he patted Dakota’s arm. “Not to worry, you'll remain fully conscious to listen, but you'll be unable to escape.”

Professor Glas replaced the broken strap and fastened Dakota back down once more. “Now that we're all calmed down, we can talk,” he said.

“ _Talk about what?”_ Daniel wondered. It wasn't like he could speak or anything.

Professor Glas pulled up a swivel chair and sat down in it. “I imagine you have many questions, Daniel. Can I call you Daniel? It seems to me that we've progressed far enough for me to call you that.”

Daniel didn't answer, which Professor Glas took as a confirmation. “Well Daniel, since I can't have you screaming since it would be very distracting to my work, I'll have to keep your gag on. This means that I will have to guess at which questions you may have. Fortunately I am a very good guesser. For starters, I imagine you would like to know where you are. You are in a warehouse at the edge of the city. As to what is happening, that answer is even more simple,” he leaned in closer to Daniel and whispered, “We are creating history Daniel; you and I. Together we are going to finally solve the mystery of Aura and the Grimm in one fell swoop. With my knowledge and your truly unique characteristics, questions that have been confounding Remnant's top scientists and doctors for centuries will finally have answers. All we have to do is dissect your body and find out what is preventing you from generating an Aura.”

Evidently Daniel's panicked screams through his gag signaled to Professor Glas that this was not the desired outcome for Daniel. His smile faltered slightly and he asked, “What's wrong Daniel? Your sacrifice will save millions of lives! We could be rid of the Grimm forever! This is an even greater calling than being a Huntsman! I have the procedure all planned out. Look!” Professor Glas stood up and excitedly strode over to where he was sitting when Daniel had woken. He grabbed a rolled up paper and pinned it to an easel. He then grabbed a pointing stick and pointed it towards the chest. “This is where we'll start by cutting in to view the major internal organs of the chest in action. We'll then move to the stomach, followed by the-”

Daniel paid him little attention. He was too busy keeping his panic down. What was happening? How could this be happening? This man, the first person he had truly trusted in what felt like forever, was going into great detail about how he would dissect Daniel. This couldn't be real; it had to be a dream!

“Daniel? Daniel? Mr. Grigio, are you listening?” Professor Glas was asking, just as he did whenever he caught someone napping in his class. Daniel responded by giving Professor Glas a rare middle finger. He was rewarded with a slap on the wrist from the pointer. “No obscenities during lectures Mr. Grigio,” Professor Glas admonished. “Now, as I was saying, due to the importance of these tests, we can't risk having anything interfere with the results,” Professor Glas looked at Daniel and Daniel could see a hint of regret in his eyes. “It is therefore my unfortunate duty to inform you that we will not be using any sedatives, pain relievers, or any other drugs beyond those required to keep you alive throughout the procedure. You will be fully conscious. I imagine it will be extremely painful.”

Daniel lost it at this. He screamed for help. Harder than he had ever done so before. His muffled yells became hoarse within minutes. Soon he had lost his voice completely. And yet he continued to scream, tears running down his face.

Professor Glas waited patiently throughout this. Waited until Daniel was too exhausted to continue on. When he was satisfied that Daniel was finished, he continued with his speech. “If there were any other way Daniel I would use it. I feel sorry for you, I really do. But there is no other way for me to get the data I need to save the world. I can assure you that your sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

At that moment, the computer on the table beeped with a notification. Professor Glas looked at it and said, “I have to go now, classes start soon. You won't go hungry, you both are hooked up to IVs. They will give you the nutrients to survive.”

Professor Glas removed his labcoat and strode out the door. Just as he was exiting, he popped his head back through the door. “And if it is any consolation to you Daniel, you won't go through this alone. I require a control group to compare your results to. Mr. Harding will be part of that group, as will a third participant once I find the correct candidate.”

The door closed, and both Daniel and Dakota were left alone.

Daniel struggled against his bonds. Desperate to escape. Desperate to not be dissected alive. It was no use. He couldn't even rub his wrists raw in hopes of contracting an infection and dying before this horrible calamity befell him; Professor Glas had padded the restraints. Defeated, he slumped against his bonds and began crying once more. This wasn't fair. Life had screwed him over so much, he had truly thought that he had escaped it when he came to Beacon and found his friends. It looked like life was going to screw him for one final time.

As he lay on his cold metal table, one more horrible thought struck him. Professor Glas had mentioned a third participant; one to round out the control group. That could mean only one thing.

Some poor Faunus was about to be kidnapped to be dissected along with them.


	19. Chapter 19

“Tactics, students, are how you avoid having to use the first aide tools that I have taught you,” Professor Glas lectured from behind his desk.  “If you can use them correctly.”

It was a usual Tuesday morning; Nick was sleeping, Lunare was tinkering, Lewis was high.  If it hadn't been for the fact that unbeknownst to the class, Daniel and Dakota had been kidnapped and were about to be dissected alive by the very man lecturing in front of them, nothing would be different from any other day in class.

“Tactics are any plans for gaining the advantage and winning the fight,” Professor Glas said.  “By using your manpower, resources, and terrain to your advantage, there are few battles you cannot win.  This is apparent in events such as the Faunus war, where an incompetent general failed to account for his adversary's most valuable resource for night fighting: excellent night vision.  Despite having the superior army, his forces were defeated and he himself was captured when they tried to attack the Faunus during the night.  Had he taken this class, things might have ended differently for the Faunus.  Not to say they would have been for the better,” he added hastily.  “I use this instance since the general's failure was so great that events today are still being shaped by it.”

Professor Glas stood up and walked along the line of tables at the front, staring at each student in turn.  “To avoid similar fates, you and your teams must remember one thing; when your lives and others lives are on the line, there is no such thing as cheating.  There is only the victor, the one who had the superior tactics, and was not afraid of breaking any social, cultural, or legal rules to succeed.”

At that moment, a shrill beep echoed throughout the school, signaling the end to class.  Professor Glas looked up at surprise, then at his watch to check the time.  According to his watch, he still had five minutes left.  Lunare, who had been tinkering up until that point, carefully slid his contraption into his pocket.  Earlier, he had made every single clock in Beacon five minutes fast, giving them more time before the next class to talk to Professor Glas.

Having apparently deciding that his watch was simply five minutes too slow, Professor Glas stopped lecturing.  “Before you all leave, I have an assignment,” he called out to the students as they stood up.  “Choose a battle, and write a three page essay on how the winning side won, and what the losing side could have done to triumph.  You have three weeks to complete it, so I expect very good essays from all of you.  Dismissed.”

As the rest of the teams filed out of the lecture hall, LSTR and DDLN met off to the side, waiting for the rest of the class to leave.  Back down at the stage, Professor Glas had returned to his desk and was working furiously on something on his laptop.

“You know guys, he looks kind of busy.  Do you think we should try again later?” Ryler asked.

Schatten shook his head.  “Something like this shouldn't be put off anymore.  It's high time we find out where the hell our friends are.”

As they approached, Professor Glas continued working on his computer, evidently too focused to notice them.  It wasn't until Lunare coughed slightly that he was aware of their presence.  He looked up in shock at them as his fingers flew over the keyboard and his hand fumbled with the mouse before clicking on something they couldn't see.  “Goodness children, you scared me!” he said, panting slightly.

“My apologies sir,” Lunare said.  “We just had a question we felt you would be the best to answer.”

Professor Glas visibly relaxed at this.  He pushed his chair back and closed his laptop.  “Seems like a large group for one question,” he commented with a bit of a laugh.

“It involves all of us sir,” Schatten replied.  “And we think it'd be best if we heard your answer together.”

“Well then, I'm all ears,” Professor Glas said.  “Spit it out.”

Tiberius did the honors.  He looked right at Professor Glas and asked “Sir, do you know the whereabouts of Daniel and Dakota?”

The grin that had appeared on Professor Glas' face disappeared in an instant.  He looked down at his desk and sighed.  “I suppose that would require all six of you.  Mr. Blanc, I've seen you and your team sit next to team DDLN.  I assume it is safe to say you all are friends with Daniel and Dakota?”

Tiberius shrugged.  “Due to certain members of their team,” he said, eying Lewis as he did so, “I personally would use the term 'friendly acquaintances'.  But yes, we are friends with them.”

Professor Glas shook his head.  “I wish it didn't have to come to this.  You and your friends, you're too young for this to happen to you,” Professor Glas looked up at them.  “I'm afraid Daniel and Dakota will no longer be attending Beacon.”

“You mean they're dead?!” Ryler cried out in shock.

“No, no! Nothing of the sort,” Professor Glas said hastily.  “Both Daniel and Dakota are to the best of my knowledge in good health.  Although, you might rather they weren't.”

“What do you mean by that Prof.?” Nick asked in a deceptively calm tone.

Professor Glas sighed once more.  “I regret to tell you all that Daniel and Dakota are not the people you thought they were.  They are criminals, wanted by the authorities for multiple felonies, including murder, kidnapping, and grand theft auto.  They used false identification to enter Beacon, but soon after we left the police station Saturday morning, the authorities were able to pierce their disguises and arrest them.  Barely fifteen minutes after we had left the station, my car was surrounded by a dozen police vans.  Daniel and Dakota were taken away, and I was in police custody until late Sunday,” he added bitterly.

Teams LSTR and DDLN were left dumbfounded.  Daniel and Dakota, were criminals?  It just didn't make sense.

Professor Glas saw their confused expressions and softened a little bit.  “I know it's difficult to process,” he said, “Even I had no idea those two were capable of the atrocities they've committed.  Quite ingenious really.  They arrived at Beacon on completely separate days and seemed to hate each other on first sight before bonding during the initiation.  It was a very elaborate ruse.”

“But why?” Lewis asked desperately, his face sweating, his body trembling.  “Why'd they lie to us like that?”

Professor Glas shrugged.  “I don't know.  They could've been trying to lay low.  Possibly, although highly unlikely, they were trying to escape and start anew.  The most likely answer however, is the most chilling.”

“Meaning?” Lunare asked.

“I believe that their entire pupose for being at Beacon was to gain training as warriors so that they would be more successful in their crimes,” Professor Glas said seriously.  “They might have even attempted to harm all of you.”

“Never!” Lewis shouted.  “Daniel and Dakota, they-they'd never try to hurt us!  They're our friends!  I mean, sure Dakota was in a gang in all but-”

“Lewis, I'm sorry that you feel that way, but I'm afraid this is the truth.  They killed members of their own gang once.  Killing six teenagers they'd only known for a handful of weeks would be child’s play for these two.”

Nick leaned on the desk and peered at Professor Glas.  “Where are they?”

“Excuse me?” Professor Glas asked, confusion written on his face.

“Dakota and Daniel.  You say they're behind bars; where?  I need to hear from their own pie holes that they lied to us, and could've killed us without a second thought.” Nick demanded.

Professor Glas blinked and looked to the side.  “I'm, afraid I don't have that information,” he said.  “All that I know is that Daniel and Dakota have been transferred to a maximun security prison for their crimes.  You could ask the officers that arrested them, but I doubt that anyone would-”

At that moment, Lewis stiffened up as his limbs began flailing around insanely.  Lunare, who was right behind him, grabbed him and held him as Lewis abruptly stopped and collapsed into Lunare's arms, unconscious.

“Good Lord!  Not again!” Professor Glas cried as Lunare gently eased Lewis onto a slightly less cluttered part of Professor Glas' desk right next to his laptop.  “I assumed that you cleared everything up with him!”

“Evidently the realization of Daniel and Dakota's true selves has pushed him over the edge,” Lunare said.  “Our two team have come to the realization that Lewis has a disturbingly fragile emotional shell.”

Professor Glas reached into his jacket and brought out a rectangular box with several scalpels sticking out.  He selected on and opened up Lewis' hand, allowing him to slice a small cut into his palm.

“With all due respect Professor,” Lunare said while still holding Lewis down cautiously, “I don't think that cutting Lewis' hand open is going to fix him.”

“I don't have time to get into the nuances of my scalpels Mr. Nacht,” Professor Glas snapped as he replaced the bloodied scalpel, “Just understand that they are capable of determining what is wrong with a patient.”

Professor Glas turned the box over and viewed an LCD screen on the back and frowned.  “Aural levels and blood pressure point towards fainting, but I can't tell what could have caused the muscle spasms.  The readings suggest a possible electric shock, but that can't possibly be correct,” he tapped the screen multiple times before looking at Lewis, who was starting to moan and come around.

“Uggghhhaaaaahhhhhh,” Lewis mumbled.  Blearily, his eyes tried to focus on something, eventually settling on the person leaning over him, Professor Glas.  His eyes sharpened, and they filled with pure rage.  “Faunus caffeine knife young upset,” he chanted.  “Faunus caffeine knife young upset!  Faunus caffeine knife young up-”

Professor Glas hauled off and slapped Lewis across the face.  Lewis' head whipped to the side, a red mark appearing on his face.  Professor Glas looked up at the astonished faces in front of him.  “My apologies,” he said without a hint of regret in his suddenly hard eyes.  “I've often found that unorthodox methods of treatment work better in place of regular ones.

“Dudes,” Lewis said slightly dreamily and back to his self, “We're gonna be so late for class,”

Six heads whipped up to the clock on the far wall.  Sure enough, ten minutes had passed.  Even with the clock pushed forward five minutes, they were hopelessly late.

“If Mr. Lemon is capable of removing himself from my desk, I will send a message to your teachers informing them that it was I who kept you back,” Professor Glas said sharply.

They looked at Professor Glas, wanting to ask more questions about Daniel and Dakota, but the hardness in his voice signaled that they had overstayed their welcome.  Lunare shifted his arms and helped Lewis to his feet.  The hippie swayed and tottered for a moment, but managed to get his footing and stride at a decent pace towards the door.  The others soon followed, Lunare hesitating long enough to cast one final glance at Professor Glas before leaving.  Satisfied that they were gone, Professor Glas sighed in relief before reopening the document he was working on before he had been interrupted.  At long last, he was confident that he had found a suitable third candidate for his experiment.  While de doubted she wouldn’t be missed, like with Daniel and Dakota, he was confident he would be done long before he was found.  Now all he needed was a way of acquiring her.

@0@0@

Teams LSTR and DDLN sat on the roof of their dorm, watching the sun slowly set.  They went up there regularly to work on homework together, figuring they'd either all pass, or all fail.  It was the reason they went up this time as well.  The only difference was that save for Lunare who was working on a tablet, no one seemed to want to do anything other than sit and talk about Daniel and Dakota.  Even Tiberius, who normally was extremely studious, seemed to have taken a day off.

“Man, I can't believe it,” Lewis lamented.  “Daniel and Dakota; not cool man.”

“I thought they were our friends,” Ryler said.  “Even if Daniel didn't appreciate my mother's work in plants, he still was nice enough.”

“I say good riddance,” Tiberius said haughtily.  “I can't believe I associated with such criminals.  I consider it no small miracle that we weren't affected by their actions,”

“Stow it Tiberius,” Schatten said.  “Professor Glas says they might've tried to kill us, but I doubt they could have done something like that.”

“Do you really?” Tiberius asked, standing up.  “Do any of you truly believe that Daniel and Dakota weren't capable of fighting and even winning against us?  You all have seen Dakota's capabilities; Schatten saw those firsthand mere days ago over the break.  And as for Daniel, hey may not have been a particularly good fighter, but during our initiation, he took out dozens of Grimm with a mere pistol!  With Daniel as the brains and Dakota as the brawn, they would make an excellent duo.”

The rest of teams LSTR and DDLN, save for Lunare, looked at each other.  No one dared speak up, since they would only confirm what Tiberius had said.

“They would fight extraordinarily well,” Lunare commented.  “Between the two of them, I doubt there would be anything heist they couldn’t pull off.”

“My point exactly!” Tiberius said in triumph.

“That is, if they actually were criminals,” Lunare mentioned.

Tiberius rounded on him.  “What do you mean by that?” he asked.  “We were told by Professor Glas himself what happened.”

Lunare finally looked up from his tablet at Tiberius.  “If they are in fact criminals, then why do they not show up in the police database?”

“You're in the police database?” Tiberius asked in shock.  “That's classified material!”

“If they wanted to keep me out, then they shouldn't leave usernames and passwords on sticky notes,” Lunare said.  “The database contains the arrest that happened on Saturday, but no previous arrests that fit Professor Glas' description.  There are also no arrest warrants out for any teenage duo in Vale.”

Lewis scrambled over and peered at the tablet as Lunare scrolled through it, showing Tiberius his findings.  “Stop!” Lewis cried as Lunare was about to turn to a new page.

“What do you see?” Tiberius said, “Is it Daniel and Dakota?”

“No man,” Lewis said, “go back two days, select drug arrests, and delete my name and information.”

Tiberius looked at him with unamused eyes.  “You want us to expunge your criminal record?”

“I was on a spirit journey,” Lewis countered.  “It was when I decided to come to Beacon.”

“In that case, change his charge to murder, and his release date to escape,” Tiberius instructed Lunare.

“Lunare,” Nick said, attempting to difuse the situation, “If they aren't criminals, why would Professor Glas lie to us?”

“That was exactly what I intended to find out when I learned of this yesterday,” Lunare answered.  “Lewis' reaction upon seeing Professor Glas seemed odd, and far too coincidental when his worry for Daniel and Dakota is taken into account.  It seemed as if Lewis’ subconscious was attempting to say something, but was unable to get anything coherent out.  This is why I used a lower power Aural Disruptor on Lewis with his permission to cause a distraction so that I could use,” Lunare said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a socket wrench.  Everyone stared at Lunare until he noticed that he was holding the incorrect contraption.  Lunare's face turned red with embarrassment as he pocketed the wrench and brought out the contraption he had been working on in class.  It had a USB stick jutting out from a bundle of wires and computer components.

“What did you build this time Lunare?” Schatten asked in a resigned tone.  He had long ago accepted the fact that his friend constantly built contraptions to suit his needs, usually on the fly, and often not entirely legal.

“I don't have a name for it quite yet,” Lunare admitted.  “Its function is to copy everything from a source over at an extraordinary rate, allowing an entire computer to be backed up in a mere thirty seven seconds.”

“You took everything off of Professor Glas computer?” Tiberius said in shock.  “You not only undoubtedly violated his warranty, but also set off numerous alarms, telling Professor Glas what you did!”

“The device negated the alarms, and warranties are for those without any mechanical ability,” Lunare said simply.  “Although, at the speed required to download such a large amount of information, there is a high likelihood of certain files being damaged, or completely corrupted.”

“Dibs on his music,” Lewis chimed in.

“Duly noted,” Lunare answered.  “I have been uploading Professor Glas' computer to a virtual machine on my tablet while we were working.  It should be completed right about,,,, now,” he pulled up the virtual machine and the two teams scrambled to their feet and crowded around Lunare to get a glimpse.

Lunare opened up the documents tab and began scrolling through it.  The items were mostly about teaching and medical histories, a receipt folder; nothing that had anything to do with Daniel and Dakota.  There was however a folder titled “Games”.  Lunare selected it, and a long list of games and their save folders appeared.  MOBAs, MMOs, shooters and platformers, Professor Glas was evidently an avid gamer.

“Ooohhh! Dead or Alive!” Ryler said in excitement.  “I got dibs on that.”

“Ryler, we're not going to start taking Professor Glas' stuff for our own,” Schatten admonished. 

“Come on Schatten, Lewis already has claim on his music,” Ryler pouted.  “If I can't have that, what can I have?”

Schatten was about to reply, but was cut off by Lunare.  “Hello, what is this?” he asked as he pushed his glasses up by the bridge.

“What is it boss?” Schatten asked Lunare.

“There's a folder for a game called 'Surgeon Simulator', but it lacks a startup icon,” Lunare said.

“Perhaps he uninstalled the game and didn't delete the folder,” Tiberius said dismissively.

“Perhaps,” Lunare said, pushing up his glasses.  “Or perhaps this it is something more.”  He tapped on the folder, and five subfolders opened up.

X-rays, Medical Histories, Preliminary Results, Operation Procedures, Likely Candidates.

“Curious names for game files,” Lunare said, selecting the folder marked X-rays.  Inside were two folders.  Both of their names were corrupted and illegible, so Lunare slected one at random and pulled up the first document at the top, a picture.

It was an X-ray, just like the folder name suggested.  The picture was messed up, but enough could be seen that it was of the torso of a human.  The name of the subject was also visible

**SUBJECT: Grigio, Daniel**

“Now then,” Lunare murmured as the rest of the two teams started talking, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, “What else are you hiding Professor?”

Lunare continued through the photos.  Many were completely unopenable, some were only sightly corrupted.  But those that had a visible subject name all had Daniel’s name printed on them in the handwriting they had all come to relate to Professor Glas comments on their classwork.

Lunare went to the second illegible folder.  It too had X-rays.  These belonged to Dakota.

“What on Remnant is going on here?” Tiberius asked, all animosity towards Daniel and Dakota forgotten, replaced by sheer confusion.

Lunare went back to the original folders and selected likely candidates.  Daniel's name was on a folder, among many other names.  His folder contained medical histories, as well as surveillance camera footage of Daniel entering an office in Beacon after being led there by a rabbit Faunus, only to be launched through the wall mere minutes later.  There were several word documents and PDFs, but they were corrupted and Lunare couldn't open them.

He then opened the operation procedures folder.  Much of what was in the folder was corrupted, but from what was not, they got a pretty good picture.  Before it was all over, Ryler had thrown up over the edge, and Schatten had cussed out Professor Glas on multiple instances

“That bastard son of a shisno!” Nick growled when Lunare finished showing the viewable files.  “He kidnapped our friends, and lies to us that they were outlaws?”

“What does it say he's doing next Lunare?” Schatten demanded.

“It would appear that he requires a Faunus for his experiments,” Lunare replied.  “According to this document, he has decided upon someone with a V in their name.”

“I don't suppose you could get any more specific Lunare?” Tiberius asked.

“Unfortunately the document is corrupted,” Lunare answered.  I am unable to get any further information from it.”

“What I don't get is why both Daniel and Dakota, and only one Faunus,” Schatten asked.  “If he really wanted whatever experiments he's doing to be accurate, he should get a second Faunus as well!”

Lewis and Nick looked at each other.  They had a feeling they knew why Professor Glas had taken both Daniel and Dakota.  They silently agreed that this outweighed their commitment to keep Daniel’s secret from team LSTR.

“There's somethin' y'all should know 'bout Daniel 'fore we continue with this,” Nick said to them.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks at time*  
> 12:00 AM, Tuesday  
> *sets clock back one time zone*  
> That's better.

Daniel woke to the sounds of frantic struggling. 

Confused, he looked around for the source of the commotion.  Dakota had barely moved since Professor Glas had injected him with something, then spent several hours pulling something out of his right hand.  He shifted on occasion on the cold hard examination table, but that was it.  Whoever was struggling, it wasn't Dakota.

The sound of a key jingling in the lock was heard at their door, and the three forms on the tables were bathed in light in the moment it took Professor Glas to close the door.

Wait, three forms?

Professor Glas stumbled through the darkness, tripping over a chair and scattering something on Dakota's table before finally finding the light switch and flicking it on,

Revealing the prone form of Velvet, the rabbit Faunus that had helped him who had helped him find the recruiter's office.  She too was bound and gagged, placed in a hospital gown.  Exactly like Daniel and Dakota

“Wonderful!  You all are awake,” Professor Glas said with a grin.  Daniel, Dakota, meet Velvet Scarlatina.  She's ahead of you two by a few years, and as you can probably see, she’s a Faunus.  She's the third candidate I was telling you two about earlier.  Isn't that right Ms. Scarlatina?”

Velvet shook her head violently back and forth, her bunny ears whipping around with each shake.  Professor Glas ignored this and instead whipped a white lab coat over his suit and bustled over to Dakota, where a vial of scalpels had been spilled all over and around him.  He collected the scalpels, counted them, frowned, and then recounted before placing them back in their vial and placing them next to Daniel.  He looked at Daniel and smiled excitedly.  “Today's the day Daniel!  Today's the day you make history!”

Cold fear washed down Daniel's back.  It couldn't be today.  He'd been here for less than a week.  He wasn't ready!

Professor popped the brakes for the wheels on Daniel's examination table and wheeled him to the center of the room, positioning his legs towards the door out of the room.  “Say goodbye to your friends Daniel,” Professor Glas said cheerfully.  “You won't see them in this life ever again.”

Daniel looked at Dakota and Velvet, bound and gagged, completely unable to stop what was happening.  Velvet was looking desperately at Daniel, trying to figure out what was going on.  Dakota gave Daniel a brief nod of farewell, then looked up at the ceiling.  Daniel couldn't believe this.  Out of all of DDLN, Dakota was the last person he'd expect to just sit down and accept this without a fight.  He called out desperately, but Professor Glas pushed on the table and they disappeared from view as Daniel, Professor Glas, and the cart pushed open the door and entered the hallway.  They were gone.

“This experiment is going to save the world Daniel,” Professor Glas assured him.  “Your sacrifice will push our world to a better tomorrow.  Thank you for this.” 

Professor Glas laughed in glee as he pushed Daniel down the hall, and Daniel shuddered at it.  Daniel had noticed that whenever talking about his experiments, Professor Glas switched between his usual self, and someone with much less control over his emotions.  He wasn't sure which was better.

“And the best part is, we don't have to worry about anyone disturbing us.  No one has any idea that we're here!”

@0@0@

Scrapmetal tore down the road, Lunare pouring every ounce of power he dared give on this narrow street.  After Nick and Lewis had told them Daniel's secret, Lunare had browsed through Professor Glas' receipts and search history before he found an abandoned warehouse for sale that Professor Glas had frequented the purchasing site of, before eventually buying it several weeks ago.  He then got the address, and they all piled into Scrapmetal, racing off in hopes that they wouldn't be too late to stop whatever Professor Glas was planning.

Lunare yanked the steering wheel to the right a final time, taking Scrapmetal into a tight right turn.  The monstrous creation flew into a weedy gravel parking lot, and Lunare slammed on the brakes, taking them into a violent skidding stop right in front of the main door.  Immediately, everyone except Lewis, Lunare, and Ryler burst out of Scrapmetal and moved to a cautious distance away.

“I will never ride in that monstrosity again!” Tiberius yelled back at Lunare.  “Most certainly not with Schatten on my lap.”  Several of the others grumbled in agreement.

Lunare ignored him, instead reaching into the glove box in front of Ryler to grab several magazines for Nieh Mehr's newly designed loading system.  Despite the majority consensus on what Scrapmetal's fate should be, they had managed to arrive here in just fifteen minutes, a trip that would've normally taken an hour.

“Hey, Lunare,” Ryler asked, “what's this in the glove box?”

Lunare paused loading his gunstaff long enough to see what Ryler was showing him before continuing his efforts.  “That, Ryler, is the stabilizer for Scrapmetal's front right leg.  It prevents the appendage from coming apart during high speed transitions from the horizontal plane to the vertical.  I intended to install it before the next outing with Scrapmetal, but due to the severity of the situation, I decided to wait until later.”

Ryler gingerly placed the part back in the glovebox and climbed out.  Lewis followed after a moment's hesitation.

Meanwhile, Nick, Schatten, and Tiberius were attempting to open the massive sliding doors to the warehouse.  Schatten was cutting into them with his claws, while Nick and Tiberius were attempting to break the lock holding the two doors together.  Neither party was having any luck.  Schatten had his claws stuck in the metal.  Nick and Tiberius tried to shatter the lock by rapidly heating and cooling it with his bullets, and then hitting it with Tiberius' chakram.

Schatten eventually wrenched his claws out of the small slices he had made in the door.  “What the hell is this door made of?” he asked, “I should be able to cut through it like butter!”

“Judging from your difficulties in opening the door, it can be safe to say that the doors have been reinforced with titanium alloy, and treated to resist fracturing under massive tempurature changes,” Lunare called out from Scrapmetal.  “I don't believe that our weapons will be successful in penetrating the door.”

“Well then what do you suggest boss?” Schatten called back.  “We got to get in there to save Daniel and Dakota!”

“That we find alternate means of entrance,” Lunare said as he turned Scrapmetal back on and began sidestepping to the right until he was facing a wall.  He then flipped several switches, moved into the highest gear available, and pressed a button with a sticky note underneath saying, 'attack mode'

Scrapmetal roared as Lunare yanked on several levers, elevating the vehicle on its hind legs.  The front two legs clawed through the air as Lunare brought it down hard into the wall.  The legs bit into the wall and ripped two rough gashes down its length.  Another round of lever yanking made the two legs turn inwards and tear the damaged section from the wall. The legs flung the scrap to the side before returning to their original stance.  The entire process took less than thirty seconds.

Lunare turned Scrapmetal off once more and stepped from the cab.  The instant he did so, the right front leg of Scrapmetal broke loose at the joint.  The vehicle teetered for a moment, then crashed to the ground on its side.

Everyone looked at Lunare.  This was his baby.  His pride and joy!  How was he going to react?

Lunare shook his head and muttered something about a stabilizer, and turned from his creation and to the dark maw in-front of him.  He expanded Nieh Mehr and pressed a button on one of the ends, turning on a flashlight that illuminated the dark corridor in front of them.  As he stepped into the hole, automatic lighting kicked in, dimly illuminating the corridor before them.  The rest of teams DDLN and LSTR followed after a moment's hesitation.  Ryler leaned over to Schatten and whispered, “I wonder how much it'll cost to tow Scrapmetal?”

“Schatten looked at Lunare leading the group, analyzing his old friend’s emotions, before turning back to Ryler.  “Best not to ask Lunare right now.”

@0@0@

Professor Glas had Daniel hooked up to several different machines to keep him alive for as long as possible during the procedure and was about to open his chest up to view his heart and lungs, when one of the motion detectors in the hallway went off.  He removed the scalpel blade from where it was resting on Daniel's flesh and looked up irritably at the single monitor in the operation room assigned to the security cameras.  When the hallway in question came up, he saw a massive gash in the wall had been created, and six teens were making their way down the hallway.  Facial recognition and biometric scans revealed them to be team LSTR, and the two remaining members of team DDLN.  Professor Glas nearly snapped his scalpel in rage.  “What are they doing here?” he roared, “How did they even find this place!” his face suddenly became calm and passive once more as he reverted to his usual self.  He took a deep breath, and released all the anger in his system; approaching the problem with a logical mind.  “No matter, perhaps they are unaware of the importance of this experiment.”

He placed the scalpel down and moved over to the intercom where a confused Daniel watched him pick up the microphone and press transmit.

@0@0@

“Spread out and search every room,” Lunare instructed, “It is imperative that we do not miss Daniel, or else the possibility of arriving too late to save Daniel will increase exponentially.”

The six of them split off into two teams checking each side of the corridor when Professor Glas’ voice crackled through speakers implanted into the ceilings.

“Lunare Natch, Schatten Schwartz, Tiberius Blanc, Ryler Merriweather, Lewis Lemon, and Nicholas Ochre.  If you have questions on the essay that I assigned this morning, I'm afraid that you will have to wait until my office hours tomorrow.  I am rather busy saving the world at the moment.” This was followed by a high pitched laugh that pushed the speakers to the limits of the sound they could reproduce.

“Where are you Glas!” Schatten shouted, “Give us back Daniel and Dakota!”

“Really, Mr. Schwartz?” Professor Glas sighed, “Is that really how you address your Professor?” When he received no response from Schatten, he sighed.  “If you must know, Daniel and I are in the middle of changing Remnant as we know it.”

“Really,” Lunare commented, “Do you have proper documentation of your experiment submitted to the proper authorities, as well as concession from all parties involved, including Daniel and Dakota's respective legal guardians?  They are underage after all.  What sort of health codes could you be violating with his dissection?  How is your note taking skills?  Do you have the proper tools required for dissecting a human body?  What are-?”

“Enough!” Professor Glas shouted, his voice no longer passive.  “I will not be insulted by a teenager who is incapable of truly understanding the work I have put into making certain that this experiment is flawless!  I cannot allow it to be hampered by legalities, not when lives are at stake.  Leave at once, or else I will charge all of you with trespassing!”

“Section three, clause eighteen of Vale's law regarding trespassing, and breaking and entering clearly states that all current rules and regulations regarding trespassing, and breaking and entering can be waived when human and or Faunus lives are at stake,” Tiberius quoted.  “As huntsmen in training, we have even further allowances when it comes to such matters.  Professor, you have no legal authority in this situation.  I highly recommend that you turn your captives over to us, and surrender yourself for arrest,”

There was a long pause after that where Professor Glas said nothing, and teams DDLN and LSTR looked up at the speakers, waiting for his response.  Finally, Professor Glas let out a long sigh.  “I really liked you six.  Truly I do.  In all my years of teaching, I never came across a group quite as interesting as yours.  As much as it pains me to say this, I will take any and all measures to ensure that this procedure goes as smoothly as possible.”

“You will dissect Daniel and Dakota over my dead body you bastard,” Lewis said darkly.  The five Huntsmen-in-training looked on in amazement as he unslung his guitar from his back and glared murderously at the speakers.  “I won't let you take away my family.”

“If that is what it will take, so be it Mr. Lemon,” Professor Glas said.  “Over your dead body it is.”  And with that, the line cut out with a click.

Lewis slammed on his guitar strings hard, letting out a discordant note out of his instrument.  The ensuing green wave blasted through the speakers in the ceiling, and took a chunk of the ceiling with it.  Dust and plaster rained down on the group, obscuring their vision.

“Sorry dudes,” Lewis said, panting slightly, “I don't know what came over me.”

As the group peered through the fine cloud of dust into the dark corridor, Lunare felt a tingling on the back of his neck.  Like someone was whispering right next to his ear.  Telling him to,

“Get down!  Now!” Lunare shouted as a hail of bullets from six ceiling turrets tore through the corridor.  His order came too late as the rest of the group got hit several times before they had a chance to dodge for cover.  Their Auras held, but they were pushed back several feet.

Lunare kicked open the door to his left and dove in, only to be confronted by another red laser tracking his movements.  Pulling Nieh Mehr up to bear, he unleashed a three round burst that struck the turret, rendering it inoperable.

“You just had to say over your dead body, didn't you?” Lunare heard Tiberius yell to Lewis out in the corridor.

Lewis responded with a frenzy of guitar chords and riffs, but was thrown backwards into Lunare's view by gunfire.  “They broke my vibes man!” he shouted, talking about the green energy he created.  “No one's ever broken my vibes before!”

Lunare reached out and grabbed Lewis by the collar of his vest, dragging him into the room.  He then moved out of the room, firing towards where the bullets were coming from. 

To Lunare's right, Ryler was strangely paired up with Tiberius, who had thrown his chakrams in the air and was using them to deflect the bullets aimed at both of them.  Ryler crouched behind the levitating disk and with bullets pinging off the chakram a mere foot from him, was firing his gas grenades at the turrets in hopes of the fertilizer fouling the mechanisms, or coating the tracking lasers to the point that they could no longer function.  He was having little luck.

Behind them, Nick was tending to a wounded Schatten.  A bullet had gotten past Schatten's Aura and had struck him in the side.  It was healing, but he would be out of the fight for the next few minutes.

It was at this moment that Tiberius grabbed Ryler and hugged him close, something he had never done before.  He then recalled the chakram that had been protecting Ryler, and tossed it at the turrets.  It hit one and sliced clean through the cable giving it power.  As the remaining turrets fired at the single chakram that was protecting both Tiberius and Ryler, the thrown chakram bounced off of a wall and took out a second turret before returning to Tiberius; who immediately redirected it back to destroy a third and fourth turret in the same manner.  Lunare finished off the final two with a continuous spread of fire from Nieh Mehr, emptying an entire clip into the ceiling.  The final notes of the fire echoed in the suddenly quiet corridor.

With the threat eliminated, Luanre ran over to his fallen teammate.  Schatten was lying next to Nick groaning and clutching his side where the bullet hole slowly closed.  “God, I hate Glas,” Schatten groaned.

“You alright there partner?” Nick asked him.

Schatten growled and struggled to his feet.  “Not until Glas is on his feet begging for mercy.”

“Then we've got no time,” Ryler said.  “Let's go stick it to him gang!”

They proceeded quickly down the corridor, checking each room for anything, destroying turrets if they were active.  It wasn't until the second to last room that Lewis found anything.

“It's a blueprint of this facility,” Lunare murmured as he studied the drawing.  “Evidently this warehouse required renovations before Professor Glas was willing to use it.”

“Does it show where Daniel is?” Schatten asked.

“Yes.  He is in a room on the far side of the warehouse,” Lunare replied.  “With Scrapmetal in need of repairs, we cannot simply create another opening.  We have no choice but to go through the facility on foot.”

“Then we had better be on our toes,” Tiberius said, “I highly doubt that Glas left this route unguarded.”

“It is possible that you are mistaken.” Lunare said, striding towards the door.  “Turrets with laser targeting are highly expensive and difficult to acquire.  Coupled with the tools and machinery to not only renovate the warehouse, but to also stock it with medical equipment makes it highly unlikely that Professor Glas had any remaining funds to purchase turrets beyond those we have already seen.”  He opened the door and strode though,

Only to be confronted by five turrets clustered around the door, all of them trained on him.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone!

Velvet had stopped struggling long ago, switching instead to mute shock, punctuated occasionally by muffled sobs.  She had no idea how she had gotten here.  One moment she was horribly lost once more in Beacon's corridors, the next she was strapped to a table with Professor Glas talking about dissecting her and two boys.  It was too much to take in.

Dakota on the other hand, was dead silent.  He didn't have time to make noise.  He was too busy trying to grab the scalpel that Professor Glas had missed when he picked up the others.  It lay in-between his right arm and his body.  He had no idea what type of blade it had, but so long as it was Dust tipped he didn't care.  It was just out of reach of his hand, but if he could just inch it a little bit further,,

Dakota gave a triumphant muffled shout as the handle of the scalpel came into contact with the palm of his hand.  Velvet looked over in curiosity to see Dakota lift up a crimson bladed scalpel.  She shouted something muffled at him.  He could cut his bonds and free both of them!

But Dakota didn't cut at his bonds.  Instead, he moved his grip to right below the blade, reversed the scalpel, and plunged it into his palm.  Fire erupted from the wound and coursed up Dakota's arm, singing the sleeves of his hospital gown.  The strap on his right arm was instantly melted, the synthetic material running down Dakota's arm, burning it.  Dakota howled in pain and ripped the strap holding down his left arm free of the table.  His left hand immediately went to his injured right arm, ripping the scalpel from his palm and flinging it away.  The fire instantly died, plunging the room back into the dim twilight of the single lamp Professor Glas had left on for them.  Velvet watched in shock as the boy before her lay on the table, nursing his burnt wrist, his breathing deep and slow. 

It was several minutes before he finally leaned up and removed the straps on his legs before finally pulling the gag from his mouth.  “God that hurts like a, damn” he said, looking at the ugly red burn on his wrist.  “At least the strap didn't stick.”

Gingerly, he twisted around on the table, and swung is feet to the ground.  Instantly, his knees buckled, and he had to grab onto both his and Velvet's tables for support, the two tables swerving dangerously on their wheels.  With his fall briefly halted, Dakota moved his left arm on Velvet's table and undid the strap on her right hand.  She was then able to reach over to her left arm and began undoing her straps as well.  Soon, both of them were free.

“Are you alright?” Velvet asked Dakota.

Dakota looked at her.  “Yeah.  I just need a second.  Glas put something into me to stop my Semblance.   The Dust from that knife is getting it out of me.”  At that moment, Dakota lurched forward and emptied whatever was still in his stomach onto the floor below.

“Your Semblance?” Velvet asked him, eying the expanding pool of vomit cautiously.  It had tinges of red to it.

“Yeah,” Dakota said hoarsely as he wiped his mouth.  “I can take in a lot more Dust directly than most people.  How much, I don't know.  Just a hell of a lot more than anyone else I’ve met.”  He groaned and clutched his right arm, hissing in pain.  “The only downside is, it hurts like hell going in, and I gotta use it all up, or it stays in me.  Dust scraping down your veins is not a good feeling.  Dakota Harding by the way,” he said as he shakily stood back up.  Carefully stepping over his vomit, Dakota opened a cabinet he'd seen Professor Glas store scalpels in, and was rewarded with an array of Dust scalpels.  There were easily over a hundred, and just about every type of Dust was represented.

“Where are you going?” Velvet asked as Dakota began grabbing different scalpels from the cabinet.

“To find my pants,” Dakota replied, rapidly wrapping bandages around his burnt wrist before dousing them with cold water from a sink.  He then wrenched the long faucet neck from the fixture, spraying water everywhere.  It wasn't his pipe, but it would do.  “And to show Glas why this plan of his is a really big mistake.”

@0@0@

Professor Glas was watching the monitors displaying the events of the hallway fight with extreme distaste.  Those children were ruining his plans!  He had expected them to run the minute he began firing at them.  It was the only logical thing to do when encountering superior firepower with the little amount of training they had been given.  Then again, he didn't think he had gotten to that part of his lesson plan.  Still, he expected them to think more rationally; especially Mr. Nacht.

Speaking of him, Professor Glas watched as the teen deduced his location from a map Glas had left there as a distraction for anyone who attempted to intervene.  While they were focused on the blueprint, he would be able to spring a trap for them.

Professor Glas reviewed his options.  He had been foolish with his initial attack, throwing all of the primary turrets blindly into play, along with more than half of the secondary turrets.  He was now left with only five turrets that were still operational.  Once they were gone, there would be nothing between Daniel and the attackers.

Well, except for Professor Glas.

Professor Glas looked at Daniel and sighed.  “I really wish they would stop this attack.  I only have so much time before I have to return to Beacon.  Class is in the morning after all.”  Professor Glas turned back to the monitor and activated the five remaining turrets, directing them all at the door teams LSTR and DDLN were in.  This wouldn't solve his problems however.  Even he could see that five turrets would not kill all of them.  Definitely the first one out of the door, possibly the second.  But that still left five teenagers prepared to move heaven and hell to reach their friends.

Professor Glas shook his head, and removed his lab coat, placing it over a chair.  He then removed his lab coat and opened his suit up, checking to make certain his scalpels were still in place.  Satisfied they were all present and accounted for, he closed his suit once more and strode towards the door.  “Very well, I'll do it myself.”

@0@0@

Team LSTR and DDLN watched in horror as the silhouette of Lunare was lit up with flashes of automatic fire.  Lunare stumbled backwards from the force of the bullets hitting him, and fell to the ground, twisting at the last moment to land face-down.  There was no way he could've survived

Seeing his leader and lifelong friend lying dead at his feet seemed to break something within Schatten.  With an anguished roar, he activated his jump jets and blasted into the first two turrets.  He grabbed them by their barrels and bit into the one on his right, tearing out the power wires with his bare teeth.  As the remaining turrets began to track him, he activated his jump jets again, still holding onto the two turrets.  The ensuing force tore them from their mounts.  Schatten hit the ground and skidded backwards.  He extended his left claws and slammed them into the concrete ground.  They cut through the concrete like butter and brought Schatten's slide to an abrupt halt.  With a howl somewhere between human and Beowulf, he threw the two turrets in his hands at the three remaining turrets and activating his jump jets once more.  The force behind the turrets when they collided with two of the still active turrets was incredible. The turrets were bent backwards into the ceiling, breaking the ceiling tiles.  The single remaining turret began firing rapidly at Schatten.  Schatten used either his Aura or claws to deflect the bullets as he rammed into the turret, his jump jets still roaring at full throttle.  His momentum carried him past the turret, but as he went by, he slashed wildly at it with both sets of claws.  The turret broke into over a dozen individual pieces, and Schatten slammed into a door at the end of the hallway, turning it into firewood.  It was over in fifteen seconds.

Schatten climbed from the wreckage of the door and tugged a jagged splinter from his arm.  “Let's go,” he ordered the group crowded around the dark form of Lunare in the door opening.

“But Sch-Schatten,” Ryler sniffled, “What about Lun-”

“He's dead,” Schatten said shortly, “There's nothing we can do for him.  Right now, I need to find Glas and make him pay for killing my friend.”

Schatten strode off in the direction Lunare had shown the examination room would be.  The rest of the group filed out of the room, each of them briefly glancing at their fallen comrade as they stepped over his corpse.  Nick was the last to leave.  As he did, he bent down and studied Lunare's prone form.  His brow furrowed for a moment, then relaxed into somber respect.  He pushed the brim of his hat down briefly, then stood up and followed behind the others.  Lunare was left alone in the dimly lit corridor.  After a few minutes, the automatic lights shut off, plunging him into darkness.

@0@0@

Professor Glas slipped through the shadows, his light blue suit the only spot of color in the dark hallway.  With his right hand in his suit jacket on his scalpel case, he strode purposefully down the corridor, following the route that any survivors of the turrets would most likely take.  His pace was measured, but swift.  He didn't want to waste any more time with these juvenile miscreants.

He didn't have to search long.  Schatten tore around the corner at a tremendous velocity.  When he saw Professor Glas, the wolf ears on his head flared back and he roared in anger.  He activated his jump jets and blasted towards Professor Glas, claws extended, teeth bared in a fierce snarl,

Only for Professor Glas to duck under the claws and grab Schatten's forearm.  He pivoted on his left foot and redirected Schatten into the concrete floor, cracking it from the force.  Before Schatten could get back up, Professor Glas planted his foot on Schatten chest and wrenched at Schatten's arm, ripping his shoulder out of its socket.  Schatten howled in pain, grasping his shoulder with his good arm, trying to pop it back in place.

“Charging blindly into a fight, Mr. Shwartz,” Professor Glas admonished.  “I was under the impression that I had taught you better than that.”  As he was speaking, Professor Glas abruptly dropped into a crouching position, allowing Tiberius' chakram's to sail inches over his head.  Professor Glas pulled out several scalpels and launched them in a volley behind him.  Tiberius, who had been trying to call his chakrams back was hit multilpe times before his aura failed, and three scalpels lodged themselves in the bicep.  Tiberius stumbled backwards with an indignant hiss of pain, clutching the wounds.  “Impressive use of my diverted attention to launch an attack Mr. Blanc,” Professor Glas commented, “I believe you wrote an essay on that very tactic.  I also seem to recall marking points off because you used both of your weapons in your initial attack, leaving you open to counterattack.”

Lewis, Nick, and Ryler were the next to round the corner.  He immediately strummed out a long chord, creating a shockwave of energy that filled the corridor, buckled doors, and threw Professor Glas back.  The Professor stabbed the wall with one of his scalpels halting his advance.  As he yanked his scalpel out of the gash he made in the wall, Ryler tossed a bag of something at him, and began firing grenades at Professor Glas.  Professor Glas sliced the bag out of the air, spewing seeds everywhere.  As they came in contact with the gas spewing out of the grenades, they began to sprout and grow into thorny vines.  The vines writhed and groped for Professor Glas, intent on ensnaring him.  Professor Glas grabbed a second scalpel in his left hand and with the precision of a doctor, sliced through the vines like they were made of paper.  The severed stumps healed immediately and continued to assault Professor Glas, but the Professor simply cut them down once more.

Seeing an opening, Nick pulled his revolver from his coat and began firing his revolver at Professor Glas.  Professor Glas sidestepped the fire bullets, cut through the ice bullets, and let the earth bullets slam into the vines, covering them in stone and forcing them down to the ground, the weight too great for them.  Nick exhausted the bullets within his revolver and with a flick, turned it into its knife form.  He waded into the vines and stabbed at Professor Glas, who deflected it with one scalpel, and used the other to slice along the length of Nick's arm.  His Aura held, but just barely.

Realizing how close he had just come to getting cut, Nick grabbed Professor Glas' right arm and drove him against a wall, slicing with the intent of disemboweling the Professor.  Professor Glas blocked each attack by simply concentrating his Aura at the strikes and deflecting them.  Seeing this wasn't going to work, Nick abandoned this attempt and instead raised his weapon to stab Professor Glas in the chest.  Before he could do this though, Professor Glas butted Nick in the head.  As Nick stumbled backwards, Professor Glas reversed his grip on the scalpel in his left hand, pushed Nick's head back with his right, and jammed the scalpel in Nick's throat.  Nick stumbled backwards, immediately grasping at the metal handle now firmly lodged in his throat.  He tried to say something, but bloody bubbles from around the scalpel were all that came out.

“Nick!  Nooo!!!” Ryler shouted.  He reloaded his grenade launcher with metallic gray shells instead of the bright green ones he had been using previously.  He fired, and Professor Glas tossed a scalpel at it to counter.  The grenade exploded with a flaming concussion that was completely different from the green gas that spewed from the grenades previously.  Evidently Ryler had loaded real grenades in this time.

Undisturbed by Professor Glas' accuracy with a scalpel, Ryler fired as fast as his weapon could cycle a new shell into the barrel.  For each grenade that was fired, Professor Glas threw a scalpel to safely detonate it.  When one grenade got past the scalpel without detonation, Professor Glas simply sidestepped it and sliced it in two with another scalpel; the two halves flying off in opposite directions.  When Ryler ran out, Lewis moved forward, blasting waves of energy from his guitar.  These waves were the most effective against Professor Glas.  He couldn't cut through them, and they took up most of the corridor, making dodging them impossible.  Professor Glas stumbled as he was buffeted by wave upon wave of green energy.  As he got closer, Lewis abandoned the strumming and instead ripped the guitar from his back, pulling it back to use it like a club.  This was a mistake.  Without the energy holding him back, Professor Glas sidestepped the swing and as Lewis was winding up for another swing, sliced through every single string on Lewis guitar.  Before Lewis could do anything else, Professor Glas grasped one of his outstretched hands by the wrist, and pressed hard on a pressure point.  Lewis' guitar fell from nerveless fingers as Lewis dropped to his knees, gritting his teeth in pain.

“You, ignorant children,” Professor Glas seethed his face turning red with anger.  This was taking longer than he had expected, and he still hadn’t started Daniel’s dissection.  “Do you have any idea what I am trying to do?  All I want to do is my duty to the people.  If that means sacrificing one boy so that billions will live, I will do what is necessary.  I wish you could understand what is truly at stake here.”  Professor Glas squeezed a point at the base of Lewis' neck, and Lewis went out like a light.

“Not one step further sir!” Ryler ordered.  Professor Glas stood up slowly and turned to face Ryler, his hands in the air.

“As a Huntsman in training, I-I hereby put you under arrest, and, I order you to surrender!” Ryler demanded, his voice becoming very high.

Professor Glas took a deep breath.  “I'm afraid that's not an option, Ryler.  I don’t surrender.”

“Then I hereby, charge you with kidnapping, assault, and murder!” Ryler said, tearing up as he said murder.  “Your sentence is death!”

Ryler squeezed the firing trigger, but as he did so, Professor Glas flicked his wrist, launching a fire scalpel into the barrel of Rylers weapon.  The grenade detonated, blasting Ryler into the wall, where he collapsed in agony.

Professor Glas stood among the corridor and surveyed the wreckage.  Five Huntsmen and training down in less than two minutes.  They were tougher than he had anticipated.  Against someone else of his skill, they might've won the fight.  He however, was their tactics teacher.  He knew exactly how they fought, their weapons, and their semblances.  The odds were stacked against them from the beginning, really.

Professor Glas dusted off his jacket and walked back the way he came, pausing only as Schatten finally got his shoulder back into its socket.  With a bestial roar, he tried to sweep Professor Glas' legs out from under him.  Professor Glas simply leapt over the swinging legs and slammed himself down on Schatten's stomach.  Schatten pushed him off and tried to get up once more, but Professor Glas grabbed the arm he was pushing up with, and yanked it out of its socket once more.  The corridor was filled with Schatten's howls of pain as Professor Glas walked towards what would surely be the greatest accomplishment of his career.


	22. Chapter 22

Velvet and Dakota hurried through the corridors, blindly searching for Glas, Daniel, and Dakota's pants.  So far, they were having little if any luck.  Without a map of wherever they were, the two were hopelessly lost.

“Dakota, we have got to stop,” Velvet panted.  She leaned against a wall, trying to catch her breath.  Dakota looked at her in sympathy.  Whatever Professor Glas had used to knock her out and capture her was evidently still in her system, slowing her down.  If they got into a fight, she was going to be worse than useless, she was going to be a hindrance.

“There's no time,” Dakota replied.  “I get that you're still a little out of it from being kidnapped and all, but Glas could be about to dissect Daniel right now, and I'll be dammed if I let him.”

Velvet wanted nothing more than to continue leaning against the wall, but wearily pushed away from it and continued following Dakota.  They rounded another corner and came face to face with a solid metal wall; A dead end.  Dakota looked back at Velvet.  “You're certain you didn't see anything?” he asked. 

Velvet shook her head and asked, “What do we do now?”

Dakota groaned and selected a Dust scalpel from his collection.  Gingerly, he pressed it into his palm, drawing blood.  Immediately, the air around him dropped several degrees.  Velvet shivered and clutched her arms.  Hospital gowns offered very little in the way of warmth.

Dakota raised the faucet head he had acquired, wound up, and slammed it into the wall.  Frost spread quickly from the point of contact, quickly covering the surface with a pale shiny sheen.  With the wall sufficiently frozen, Dakota took several steps back, then charged at the wall, baring his shoulder.  The supercooled metal shattered like glass and Dakota tumbled into the room behind the wall.  He slammed into a desk laden with papers and stumbled, grasping for purchase as he flung the scalpel to the side.  “We go through,” he said; answering Velvet's question at last.  He then coughed a cloud of cold air and shook his head.  “God that burns.” he said, making a face.

Careful to avoid the freezing cold edges, Velvet followed Dakota through the hole he’d just made.  She gave him a brief glance to make certain he was okay, then directed her attention around the room they had just barged into.  As she did, she noticed a doorway leading out to another corridor.  Deciding to venture out and see where they were, Velvet made her way around the table and towards the doorway.  Before she could make it to the door however, her bare feet ran into a prone object lying on the ground near the doorway.  Irritably, she wondered how her night vision had failed to warn her of the obstacle.  Then as she crumpled over the object and it became apparent what it was, those thoughts were immediately driven from her mind.  With a muffled scream, she pushed off from the corpse and scrambled away as fast as she could.  “There is a dead body on the floor!” she whispered furiously!”

Dakota slid from the table, still not fully recovered from using Dust once more, and began dragging himself around the table.  “Is it Glas?” he asked with a hint of excitement.

“I, I don't think so,” Velvet said.

“Shame,” Dakota muttered.  “And here I was hoping all our problems would be-” he stopped as he came across a familiar gunstaff.  In the dim light, he could see that some modifications had been made since he'd last seen it, but Lunare had been saying he wanted to make some changes to Nieh Mehr.

“Ah hell,” Dakota muttered.  “God, Goddammit.”  He pounded the carpet, crystallizing the fibers around his fist.

“Dakota?” Velvet asked cautiously.

“It's Lunare,” Dakota murmured.  He pushed Nieh Mehr aside and drug himself over to the body of his fallen friend.  “He was on another team.  Mine and his must've figured something out and came to rescue us.”  Dakota reached Lunare's body and felt his back.  Stone cold.  With this confirmation, Dakota lowered his head and shook it slowly.

_Cough_

“Gesundheit,” Dakota said automatically, looking up at Velvet.

“Very kind of you,” Lunare replied.

Nothing but a faint echo of those four words could be heard for a full minute.  Velvet was staring at the corpse that had just talked, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.  Dakota's head slowly lowered again, looking at the carpet.

“Lunare?”

“Yes Dakota san?”

“You're not dead, are you?”

“Fortunately not,” Lunare replied.  “Although there is a significant amount of bruising, and I fear several ribs might possibly be cracked.  The question you should be asking is, why did you think I was dead?”

Dakota reached up and grabbed a chair.  Groaning, he pulled himself into a kneeling position.  “Well, you were lying motionless, and I can only pray that you weren't stupid enough to come here alone.  And if you were wounded, they would've left someone with you, or at least rolled you over.”

“An excellent deduction Dakota.  Now, if you would be so kind as to roll me over like you said, I can explain why I am still alive after taking direct fire from five automatic turrets firing six hundred thirty-caliber bullets a minute.  I would do it myself, but the armor lock seems to be a tad excessive in that I cannot turn it off.”

“Armor lock?  What are you talking about Lunare?” Dakota asked as he carefully leaned over and turned Lunare onto his back.  It was only then that Dakota saw what Lunare meant.

The front of Lunare's long black coat was absolutely shredded, bits of fabric held together by mere threads in some cases.  Underneath, however, was a layer of shiny metal, unmarked by the bullets they had stopped to save Lunare's life.  His arms were tucked underneath his body, the fabric of the sleeves horribly ripped.  Like the rest of his body, Lunare's arms were protected by the armor underneath, this time by several sharp rib-like appendages protruding limply from the ruined fabric.

“Corabellum armor,” Lunare answered as he slowly moved his hand to a point under his right arm.  He depressed a flush button there, and a noticeable hiss was released.  Lunare’s form loosened up instantly, and he began inspecting the shredded remains of his once great coat.  “My parents were working on it before they-”

Lunare abruptly paused his inspection, preventing himself from saying something he didn’t want to.  “Well anyways, after it came into my possession, I took over designing the armor and refining its capabilities.  It is my final defense against attacks.  Even without an aura, and without Nieh Mehr, I am still capable of attacking and defending myself.”

“Damn, I bet Daniel would get a kick out of that,” Dakota murmured quietly.

“Because he lacks an Aura, and therefor is unable to access many key abilities that huntsmen rely upon on a daily basis?” Lunare asked, overhearing Dakota's comment.  “Nick told us everything,” he added when he noticed Dakota go ridged and his face display a look of shock and horror.  “There is no need to worry, I can assure you that all of LSTR will protect Daniels secret as long as he wishes for it to be kept.

“They'd better,” Dakota said gruffly, although there was a noticeable loosening of his form.  “Speaking of LSTR, get up.  We need to meet up with them.”

“And yet we have an interesting opportunity in our grasp,” Lunare countered, grabbing Nieh Mehr as he stood up.  “Schatten knew about my armor, and was instructed on what to do should I be injured and presumed dead by the rest of the group.  Providing I was in no immediate danger, he was to move on without me, effectively creating two separate forces that our opponents were not aware of.  In a situation such as this, he was to engage the primary opposition, and I was to find an alternate route to the target.  Although I don't believe I saw any other route to on the map that lead to Daniel other than; is that a hole in the wall?” he asked, pointing towards the hole that Dakota had made, the edges still smoking from the extreme cold.  Without waiting for further confirmation, Lunare strode over to the table, where several papers still lay upon its surface.  He grabbed one and studied it for a brief moment, before looking back at Dakota.  “You are aware that you walked past the room that Daniel is most likely being held, are you not?”

Dakota swore briefly, then pointed at Velvet.  “Find a way out, and go get some help.  If Glas kills us, Make certain that bastard goes to jail.”

Velvet nodded and took off.  She peered through the doorway at the corridor, and ran towards the right, her bare footsteps hitting the ground with slowly distancing slaps.

“She seemed nice,” Lunare commented as Velvet's footsteps faded into the distance.  “Who was she?”

“The third candidate,” Dakota answered shortly. “You said you knew where Daniel was, right?  Let's go.”

Lunare raised an eyebrow, but saw Dakota was concerned for his friend and did not pursue the matter.  Instead, he stepped through the hole in the wall and moved several doors down the hallway, stopping at a door right before the corridor turned off to the right.  Two shots from Nieh Mehr sent the lock clattering into the depths of the room. 

With the door now forcibly unlocked, Lunare grasped the door handle and pulled the door wide open to reveal a dark room with several indistinct features within.  With the door opened, they could hear a long drawn out electronic beep coming from a machine.

Dakota stepped up next to Lunare and groaned.  “Lun, please tell me that's not what I think it is.”

“There is only one way to find out for certain,” Lunare answered as he took a step into the room and fumbled on the wall for a light switch.  Finding one, he flicked it on, igniting a half-dozen bulbs screwed into the ceiling.  It was the brightest light in they had seen in the warehouse.

The light from the bulbs revealed a room not unlike the one that held Daniel, Dakota, and Velvet as Professor Glas got prepared.  The only difference was that this one was smaller, and was crammed full of medical equipment.  The source of the noise was revealed to be a heart rate monitor sitting on top of a gurney next to an examination table.

An empty examination table.

Daniel was nowhere to be seen.

“Daniel?!” Dakota shouted, in hopes that his friend was still in earshot.

Lunare moved over to the examination table and began examining it.  The torn remains of an arm restraint were hanging limply off of the right side.  The left restraint was simply missing altogether.  The area of the table around both restraints were covered in droplets of bright red blood.

“The blood surrounding these restraints are still relatively fresh,” Lunare commented.  “Daniel freed himself from here no more than ten minutes ago.

“So he's close then?” Dakota asked as he carefully unwrapped the bandage around his burnt wrist in preparation to swap out the wrappings for fresh ones in a cabinet.

“I doubt he has left the building if that is what you are asking,” Lunare replied.  “However the floor-plan of this building is in itself a maze.  It is highly likely Professor Glas designed it this way to increase the difficulty of moving around for any attacking for-”

“Can you follow him?” Dakota asked impatiently.  This wasn't a moment for one Lunare's tangents.

Lunare frowned and studied the ground beneath their feet.  “It appears that Daniel neglected to cover whatever wounds he received during his escape.  The ensuing drops of blood should make it possible for us to find Daniel.”

Dakota peered out from the doorway at the corridor, making certain no one had snuck up on them.  “Lead the way,” he said once he was certain the coast was clear.  Lunare activated the flashlight on Nieh Mehr, and together, the two teens ventured into the dark corridor, following the trail of blood.


	23. Chapter 23

Daniel shuffled down the corridor, sliding against the wall.  Where was he?  Why wasn’t he strapped down like he had been for the past several days?  How did he escape?  Oh, that's right; Glas took him in for his 'procedure'.  Now he remembered.  He remembered being wheeled into a room, hooked up to multiple machines, blood being drawn, and then had scalpel had descended towards his chest.  Daniel had felt the blade cut through the first few layers of flesh before it had inexplicably stopped as Professor Glas was distracted by something on the monitors.  Someone had broken into the warehouse.  Daniel had watched as Professor Glas keyed in several codes as gunfire echoed off in the distance.  Daniel had tried to free himself during this time, pulling and wrenching at the straps, rocking the table back and forth until Professor Glas prepared a syringe while muttering about the delays that would be created as the drug was removed from Daniel system.  He jabbed the needle into Daniels neck and then,

Nothing

Nothing until suddenly he was shuffling down the corridor, trying to find a way out.

Something was dragging as well.  Something metallic was slowly scraping along the concrete floor behind him.  Daniel slowly stopped and turned his head to see his sword held loosely in his right hand.  He looked slowly at his left hand to see his pistol hanging from equally numb fingers, blood dripping from his wrist down the blade.  How he got his weapons, he had no idea.  It must've been during the blank period.  However he got them didn't matter.  What mattered was finding a way out of this mess before something else happened to him.

“This was all going so well until your friends showed up,” A voice called ahead of Daniel.  Slowly raising his head, Daniel saw the dark blurry form of Professor Glas in the distance.

“They just couldn’t have let me have my moment, could they,” Professor Glas said with remorse.  He raised a shaky hand to remove his glasses from his face.  With a crunch, he crushed them in his fist and threw them off to the side in rage.  The crushed frame tinkled against the concrete, the bits of glass tinkling in the dim light.  “They just had to come in and ruin everything!  I put so much effort into tracking you down, so much time creating the perfect plan.  Searching all of Vale for the mysterious boy without an Aura, hacking the security cameras when you, a suspect enrolled in Beacon.  I spent so much time and effort that's now absolutely worthless!  And it was all because of a bunch of stupid children!”  With a roar of anger, Professor Glas kicked the wall, putting a foot-sized hole in the plaster.  The force from the kick was enough to destabilize Daniel.  He stumbled and slid against the wall, nearly falling to the ground.

Just as quickly as Professor Glas' fit of rage began, it ended.  He removed his foot from the wall and brushed the bits of dust from his jacket.  “We'll have to leave Vale now, you and I.  Somewhere friendlier to my work. Vacuo perhaps.  Whatever it takes, you and I will finish our research.”  He looked up at Daniel and through the haze of the drugs, Daniel could see the passion and determination in his eyes.  “We are the only hope for humanities survival.”

Something sparked deep down in Daniel.  It wasn't enough to get him to attack Professor Glas, but it was enough to keep him moving, when all his body wanted to do was listen to Professor Glas and lie down.  There were voices now inside Daniel's head.  Whispering, keening.  Telling him not to stop.  To keep going and destroy this man who'd caused Daniel so much pain.

A whistling through the air and the sharp pain of a scalpel slicing through Daniel's right arm removed any of the fog still in his brain.  Daniel's head snapped up and he grasped the wound in pain.

“Stop now Mr. Grigio.  Consider that your one warning shot,” Professor Glas ordered.  He had reached into his jacket and was pulling out an entire handful of Dust scalpels.

Daniel gritted his teeth and removed his hand from the wound.  Frost had begun spreading, and numbing his skin around the cut.  Daniel gripped his pistol tighter and raised it to eye level, aiming at Professor Glas' center mass.  “Why Professor?  Why did you do this?” he hissed in pain.

“Isn't it true that the lives of countless generations of humans and Faunus alike are worth more than the life of one boy?” Professor Glas asked in return.  “This is what I have been telling you all this time.  You will die, but others will survive!  That is the duty of a Huntsman.  A duty you took on when you joined this academy.  And yet when push comes to shove, when it's suddenly YOUR life on the line, you shirk your duty.  I’m disappointed Daniel.  I thought I had taught you better.”

Deep inside, voices were growling to Daniel.  _Take the shot.  Kill this man who dares try and hurt you._  Something stayed Daniel's hand though.  Nothing was staying Professor Glas' hand though. 

Professor Glas' hands moved in a blur, and sudden, scalpels were whirling through the air towards Daniel.  Daniel fired off a round and sidestepped, only to step right into the path of four of the scalpels.  They sunk deep into his bicep and chest, one even hitting his ribcage.  Professor Glas simply let the bullet ricochet off his Aura.

Ignoring the pain emanating from multiple wounds in his body, Daniel began moving as fast as he could, firing his pistol with every step.  Pulling out more scalpels, Professor Glas threw them with incredible precision, slicing each bullet in two before they could hit.  The two halves would then fly off and ricochet off the walls, floor and ceiling.  As he got closer, Daniel raised his sword to strike Professor Glas.  Before he could complete the strike, Professor Glas grabbed Daniel's arm and slammed it halfway between the wall and a recessed doorway.  Daniel's cries of agony drowned out the sharp crack of bones breaking.  His sword slipped from fingers now incapable of functioning and clattered to the ground.  It was soon followed by his pistol as Daniel clutched his broken arm in pain.

Professor Glas grabbed Daniel and slowly lowered him to the ground.  Daniel moaned in pain as his newly broken limb jostled with the movement.  The voice in his head was getting louder, more incessant.  They were calling out for Glas' head and right now, Daniel kind of agreed with them.

Professor Glas looked at Daniel's bloody form and tisked, shaking his head in disapointment.  “You know something Daniel?  All of this could have been avoided if you had just stayed put.  You're already going to be in a lot of pain from the procedure.  I really don't know why you insisted on causing yourself additional discomfort.”  Professor Glas then did something that surprised Daniel.  He began methodically removing the scalpels from Daniel's body, patching the holes with gauze and medical tape he pulled from his jacket.  “Not to worry Daniel, you are in good hands,” Professor Glas said in the calm controlled tone he always used in class.  “Once I stop the bleeding we'll see to setting your broken arm.  I'm afraid I'll have to sedate you after that though.  I can't have you struggling to get free.”

His heart pounding in his chest at the speed of automatic fire, Daniel began squirming, desperate to free himself from Professor Glas' firm grasp.  Professor Glas frowned at his struggles and grasped Daniel's broken arm, applying pressure at the break.  Daniel's screams filled the corridor once more.  “That's enough Daniel,” Professor Glas commanded, releasing the pressure.  “Don't make me break the other arm as well.”

Daniel ignored him and instead opted to resume struggling, and Professor Glas slammed his fist down on the break.  Daniel screamed harder than he had ever done in his life as the pain overwhelmed him.  The world went dark and he slumped against the ground, motionless.  Professor Glas maintained pressure on the break for several additional seconds after Daniel stopped moving before he finally let go.  With the pain gone, Daniel slowly came back to his senses, but this time he remained motionless, too afraid of further pain to retaliate.  The voices in his head were roaring in anger, furious that Daniel wouldn't attack.  _Get up you fool!_ They cried.  _Kill him!  Kill him and no one else will dare try and hurt you!_

Professor Glas reached under Daniel's contorted form and lifted him up, suddenly with the gentle touch of a doctor ministering his patient.  “Not to worry Daniel,” he said calmly as he rummaged for a syringe, “I'll keep you perfectly safe.  You can trust me.”

It was with that one sentence, that all hell broke loose.

Daniel couldn't believe the nerve of this man.  He had lied to Daniel, kidnapped him, planned out a live dissection of Daniel and his friends, broken his arm, caused Daniel to black out by punching his broken arm; and he had the audacity to tell Daniel he could trust him?  It was the last straw.  The voices in Daniel's head were a din of voices calling for Glas' death.  They swarmed over Daniel's thoughts, mixing into a wave of anger and a lust for vengeance.  They and Daniel agreed completely.  Professor Glas had to die.

With a roar of anger, Daniel swung his good arm into Professor Glas' face.  Professor Glas blocked it with his Aura, but dropped Daniel in surprise.  Daniel fell to the ground and scrambled to his feet.  Energy coursed through his body, giving him strength he hadn't felt in days.  The wounds from the scalpels were still there, but the sharp pain they gave off was completely gone.  In fact, all the aches and pains from their fight had all disappeared.  He kneeled and grabbed his sword in his left hand, raising it to deliver a vicious swipe at Professor Glas.  The blow struck Professor Glas and actually made it through his Aura, delivering a cut into his shoulder. 

Professor Glas stepped back in surprise, clutching his bleeding shoulder and stared at Daniel in amazement.  “Incredible!” he exclaimed.  “Such ferocity, such disregard for injuries.  And those eyes!  This is an incredible discovery!  You are truly a wealth of information Mr. Grigio.”

Daniel didn't know exactly what professor Glas was saying, but right now, he didn't care.  He swung at Professor Glas once more, who seemed to move in slow motion compared to how he was moving a minute ago.  He twisted to the side as Daniel lunged at him, barely missing the blade as it went cleanly through his jacket.  Daniel used the sudden resistance to pull Professor Glas in closer so he could head-butt him, snapping the Professor's head back and sending the two tumbling to the ground.  When they hit the ground, Daniel tore his sword free of the jacket and swung it at the Professor's vulnerable neck.  He was stopped however by a resistance in his left arm.  Daniel looked at his arm to see a scalpel embedded deeply into his forearm, with Professor Glas holding onto it for dear life.  The Professor used this hold on Daniel to push Daniel's arm to the ground where he pinned it with both arms.  Angry that his one working arm was now pinned, Daniel began kneeing and kicking Professor Glas anywhere he could, trying to get him to let go.  He got in a lucky shot and Professor Glas let go immediately, grabbing his wounded organ in pain.  Daniel stood back up and bit down on the handle of the scalpel, tearing it from his arm.  Blood began pouring freely from the hole, but he paid it little attention.

“Impressive,” Professor Glas said as he gingerly got to his knees, his voice several octaves higher than it was before.  “Your mannerisms have devolved into a more primal state.  I might have to investigate this further before going through with the vivisection.”

Any other day, Daniel might've let Professor Glas get back up before attacking, even though he wanted to dissect Daniel.  Today however, he would get no such mercy.  He kneed Professor Glas in the nose, breaking it and spewing blood everywhere.  As his head snapped back, Daniel went once more for his neck.  As the blade descended, Daniel saw in the corner of his eye that Professor Glas' right hand now contained three scalpels in between his knuckles.  They were rising up to meet his blade, exactly like what Schatten did the last time they spared.  They were perfectly presented to catch Daniel's sword and be able to control his movements.  Instead of letting this happen, Daniel twisted his sword at the last second, passing beneath the scalpels and scoring a direct hit across Professor Glas' knuckles.  He didn't cut through the fingers all the way, but that hand wouldn't be doing anything anytime soon.

Professor Glas' eyes widened as the bloody being on top of him wrenched its sword free of his knuckles and raised it in preparation of delivering a backhand strike.  Blood was still pouring from the wounds Professor Glas had inflicted, which was starting to turn his skin pale.  What was the most fearsome however, were the eyes.  Daniel's eyes were normally somewhere between green and brown.  Right now, they were a bright red that glowed in the darkness.

“D-daniel?” Professor Glas managed to get out.  For the first time in what felt like years, Professor Arthur Glas was very afraid.

Daniel finally brought the sword down, bashing Professor Glas' mouth with the guard of his sword.  It took out several of Professor Glas' teeth, as did the next hit, and the next.  Daniel continued to pound on his former professor, letting out a primal grunt with each blow.  After nearly a dozen hits, Professor Glas' face barely resembled that of its previous form.

Satisfied with the damage they had created, the voices in Daniel's head made him stop and catch his breath.  Things were starting to get a little dizzy, the sounds of blood dripping a bit fainter.  It was time to finish this before he no longer had the strength to do so.  He reversed the sword in his grip and raised it above Professor Glas' neck.  He didn't know it yet, but it was oddly ironic considering what had just happened to one of his friends.

“P-pleshe.” Professor Glas croaked through a mouth of broken teeth and blood.  The voices in Daniel's head commanded he ignore this plea and kill this man, but enough of Daniel remained in control that he stayed his hand for a moment, opting instead to lower his sword down to rest on Professor Glas' neck in case he tried anything.  He wanted to hear what the Professor had to say for himself.

“Pleshe shtahp.  Yew dondt unbershtand.  I- I wash going to shafe lifes.  Your beafth woulb hafe had meaning.”

Daniel looked at this broken and battered pulp of a man.  He was someone who had wanted with all his heart to save the world.  It was something Daniel could sympathize with.  On a philosophical level, Daniel completely agreed with Professor Glas; the life of one man was outweighed by the millions that would be saved.  Had he approached Daniel about it, Daniel would have seen exactly what Professor Glas wanted to do.  He might have even agreed to it.  The only problem was, Professor Glas hadn't approached him about it before kidnapping him, and he certainly didn't get permission from Dakota and Velvet. 

Daniel raised his sword high once more and opened his mouth to speak the first words he had spoken since they had begun this fight.  “You.  Had.  No.  Right.” 

The sword descended towards Professor Glas' throat as a faraway tinkle of metal on metal was heard in the distance.  The instant before it hit home, the tip was violently pushed to the side and embedded into the concrete floor.  Daniel looked up in surprise and rage to see Dakota with a piece of machinery in his outstretched hand pushing the sword out of the way.  “That, is a very dangerous road you do not want to go down Daniel,” Dakota said.

Furious that he had been foiled, Daniel dropped the sword and lunged at his teammate, the voices in his head calling for death.  Professor Glas' death, Dakota's death, everyone's death.  He didn't get very far though.  While his wounds didn't trouble him in the least, blood loss was something he simply couldn't get past.  He stumbled and fell, narrowly being caught by Dakota.  He thrashed and writhed in an attempt to get at him, but Dakota held him fast, refusing to let go.  “Dammit Daniel, listen to me!  Glas is a piece of crap and needs to pay!  But you do NOT want to be the one to kill him!”

Daniel continued struggling, but his actions slowed.  As his heart rate slowed, the voices in his head, still calling out for blood, faded away into indistinct growls before disappearing altogether.  And with their disappearance, came the pain once more.  It was all over him.  It was like they had never left.  Rather, they had gotten stronger the more he exerted himself.  Daniel bent over in agony, screaming his head off.  As if noticing the blood for the first time, Dakota swore and called out.  “Lunare, he's hurt bad!  You got anything in that magic satchel you call a jacket?”

Lunare, who Daniel hadn't noticed before, pulled open his torn jacket and began rummaging through it.  He eventually came up with a thin roll of duct tape, but nothing to put behind it.  Glancing at Professor Glas, he pressed a button on his right wrist, releasing a thick blade from his forearm, extending towards his elbow.  He then bent down over Professor Glas and used it to awkwardly slice a large portion of his bright blue jacket from the rest of his suit.  As he did, a syringe fell out of a pocket and rolled across the floor.  Ignoring it, he handed the duct tape and the cloth to Dakota and together they began bandaging Daniel's wounds; some of which were already bandaged, but had come loose during the battle.  They managed to get the bleeding stopped, but Daniel was still crying in pain.

“Dammit, we got to get him calmed down,” Dakota said.  “He could go into shock, which at this stage could kill him.”

“If Lewis were here, he would have something,” Lunare mused.  “Unfortunately, my supplies are rather limited when it comes to first aide.”

A feeble hand tapped Lunare's foot.  He turned in surprise to see Professor Glas offering Lunare the syringe that had fallen out of his coat.  “Anesthetic,” he said slowly, careful not to warp any of the syllables.  “For Daniel.”

Dakota went to hit Professor Glas in the head, but Lunare stayed his hand, frowning at the Professor.  “Why should we trust you to give Daniel anesthesia instead of something else?”

In spite of the situation, Professor Glas managed to crack a bloody, nearly toothless smile.  “I'm the Doctah,” he said.

Dakota looked at Lunare, who was seriously considering whether or not to trust Professor Glas.  Another moan from Daniel decided things for him.  Lunare took a step back and brought Nieh Mehr to bear.  “Arthur Glas,” he recited in a monotone voice.  “You are hereby under arrest for kidnapping and attempted manslaughter.  The single guarantee that you have is that I currently have several cracked ribs because of your turrets.  If you attempt to harm Daniel or anyone else before you are released to the proper authorities, I will not hesitate to remove you from the equation.  Do I make myself clear?”

Professor Glas nodded and firmly grasped Daniel's arm.  He jabbed the needle in and depressed the plunger.  Daniel's world instantly went to black as his consciousness faded away.


	24. Chapter 24

Because Daniel was unconscious, he had to be filled in about what had happened after Professor Glas injected him with anesthesia.  Dakota had picked Daniel up, careful to fold his arms across his chest to keep them from flopping around.  Lunare followed behind, keeping a close eye on Professor Glas.  Nieh Mehr didn't stray from Glas' figure.

By the time they got outside to the parking lot they'd left Scrapmetal in, it was as bright as day.  Not because of the sun, but because of the massive spotlights set up by the police.  Velvet had done her job perfectly.  She ran as fast as she could to the nearest pay phone, where she called up the rest of her team who had been already looking for her.  Another quick call, this time to the local police, and the entire block was cordoned off from the public.  Several paramedic rescue teams were on station to receive any wounded, and several Huntsmen and Huntresses who were close enough to respond were preparing to go in and rescue the hostages when Dakota and Lunare came out with Daniel and Professor Glas.  Assured that the building was secure, the paramedics rushed in and collected the rest of teams DDLN and LSTR. 

Schatten had managed to get his arm back in its socket by the time they'd arrived, but elected not to pursue Professor Glas when he saw the state of the others. 

Tiberius was treated for the puncture wounds caused by the scalpels, furious that his suit had been damaged by Professor Glas.

Lewis and Ryler were both unconscious when the paramedics found them but apart from a few cuts and burns on Ryler when the grenade detonated within his weapon, they were alright. 

Lunare did indeed have several cracked ribs, but was otherwise unharmed.  He was more concerned with Scrapmetal, which had to be hauled off to his garage to be repaired once he had recovered. 

Dakota had third degree burns on his wrist where the restraint's synthetic material had melted onto his skin, as well as cuts from where he injected himself with Dust.  Both would scar, but he was fine.  His biggest problem was that he had reacted poorly with the chemicals Professor Glas had used to flush the dust out of his system.  He managed to keep it at bay through sheer will for three whole days, but had collapsed almost immediately after handing Daniel off to the paramedics.  He was currently hooked up to an IV delivering fluids to help dissipate the chemicals from his blood stream.

Excluding Daniel, Nick was the worst off.  Contrary to popular belief when the Paramedics first found him, Nick did not in fact die.  He had easily lost a pint of blood, but would have lost even more had the scalpel not acted as a plug and stopped most of the blood from ever leaving.  The biggest damage though was to his throat.  His esophagus and windpipe both needed massive surgery to repair, and his vocal chords were sliced to ribbons.  The doctors assured Daniel that Nick would speak again, they were unsure how long it would take, or in what condition his voice would be in.  For his stay at the hospital, Nick had a pad of paper and a bell for him to ring if he needed assistance.

This left Daniel.  He had a broken arm that was actually broken in two places, the second one being when Professor Glas had hit it to subdue Daniel.  Coupled with multiple puncture wounds and an artery nearly cut in two by the scalpel Professor Glas had driven into his left arm, it was a miracle he didn't die of blood loss.

The doctors had to be told about Daniel's secret.  There was simply no way around it.  As they drove to the hospital, Dakota filled the paramedics in on the details.  To their credit, they took the news very well, assuring Dakota that while the news was highly shocking to them, they would not let it interfere with their work.

Daniel was placed in a room with Dakota and Nick on each side of him.  He had been given nearly two liters of blood and his upper body was almost entirely covered with bandages.  It was going to be a difficult recovery.  He was alive though, and right now, that was enough for him.

This is where he was, one week later.  He, Dakota, and Nick were watching the latest episode of X-ray and Vav on a projector Lunare had brought in from his garage for them.  X-ray and Vav had been thrown into a cage along with the rest of their cohorts when the screen went black and the credits rolled.  They'd have to wait another week to find out what happened.

“Oh come on!” Daniel complained.  “They're, they're actually going to leave us right there?  I can't believe this!”

“At least we know it'll be back next week,” Dakota said.  “That mid-season gap nearly killed me.”

“Still, it seems like the guys who make X-ray and Vav love their cliffhangers way too much.  All their other shows end each season on one.” Daniel replied.

“It's a legitimate strategy to keep people watching just to see what the hell happens next,” Dakota said as he shifted in his hospital bed, reaching over to grab the remote and turn the projector off.  “I absolutely hate it.”

Daniel was about to reply to this when Nick tapped him on the shoulder with a pen.  He had been writing on his pad of paper the whole time while Daniel and Dakota criticized the cliffhanger, and was now offering the completed note.  Daniel accepted the paper and read what Nick had written.

It is interesting to see you complain about a kids show, when just two weeks ago, you were prisoners of an insane doctor.

“What did he say?” Dakota asked, leaning over to try and read what the note said.  Daniel handed the note to Dakota, who read it over before looking up and glaring at Nick.  “You take that back.  X-ray and Vav is not a kids show.  It is a cartoon for teens and adults.”

“He's got a point though,” Daniel said.

“Don't even try it.  You were laughing right next to me when Dragonface lost to a rock.”

“No, not that part,” Daniel corrected.  “It's really been a whole week since we got free.”

Dakota frowned for a moment, then his eyebrows shot up to his hair.  “Damn, it has been, hasn't it?  Feels like a freaking lifetime ago.”

“Yeah, about that,” Daniel began, but Dakota cut him off.

“Dude, I know what you're going to say.  Just stop apologizing for what you did.  It was kind of freaky, and I nearly crapped my pants when I saw your eyes, but if it wasn't for whatever the hell you did, we may've lost you.  So don't beat yourself up about it.  Let's just hope it never happens again.”

“It's not about that,” Daniel said.  “It's about what you said.  Right when I was about to kill Professor Glas, you stopped me and said it was a road I didn't want to go down.  Why?”

Dakota sighed and lowered his head.  “That's a lesson I learned the hard way from the biggest mistake of my life.”

“I'm sorry,” Daniel hastily retracted.  “I shouldn't have-”

“No, it's alright.” Dakota said.  “I've been meaning to tell everyone anyways.  It's something you all should know.”  Dakota reached over to a glass of water on a bedside table.  He took a long drink from it before continuing.  “I told you all that I left Vlad's gang because I got sick of them.  I don't think I ever told you what the final straw was.  About a month before I came to Beacon, there was a really bad turf war.  Worst one I'd ever seen, and I've seen some ugly turf wars.  A supermarket had just opened up right on the edge of another gang's turf.  Problem was, they already had a supermarket to use without paying tribute to another gang; while we had none.  Vlad decided that since the other gang had two, they should share one with us.  And by share, he meant give it up for our full use.” 

Dakota gave a humorless laugh at that.  “As you can expect, it didn't go over well with the other gang.  In retaliation for us invading their territory, they invaded ours.  Got in pretty deep as well; torched half of our safe houses.  I was defending our last one in that neighborhood when I saw him.  He was about my age, really good fighter.  He had just knocked out one of our guys when I hit him in the head with my pipe.  I, assumed that he had an activated Aura since he was such a good fighter.  Turns out, He was just a really good fighter.  The blow dented his skull a full half-inch.  Two of his friends rushed him out of there, but he died before they could get him to a hospital.  The other gang backed off soon after, gave us the supermarket.  Vlad found out I'd killed the guy and probably won the war for us.  And when he did, he congratulated me for killing a guy.  Someone who just wanted to defend and protect his friends.  I applied to Beacon the next day, told Vlad I was out, and never looked back.”  Dakota rubbed the light beard he had begun growing since he came to the hospital, and Daniel saw a tear roll down his face.

“Dakota, you okay?”  Daniel asked, concerned.

“Hm?”  Dakota said, not seeming to hear the question.  “Oh, yeah.  I'm fine.  I'm ah, I’m going for a walk,” he announced before swinging his legs off the bed and grabbing his IV stand.  With IV in tow, he strode out of the door, disappearing into the corridor beyond.

Daniel sat in mild shock.  This was a side of Dakota he had never seen before.  He'd seen Dakota amused, happy, irritable, and downright pissed; but he had never seen Dakota regretful before.

He was still pondering this when there was a knock at the door.  “Come in,” Daniel replied, still in deep thought.

A nurse opened the door and peeked her head in.  “Mr. Grigio?” she called.  “Your father is here to see you.”

Daniel felt like ice water had been thrown in his face.  His father was here?  The hospital must have contacted him.  And if he was here, it wouldn't take much for him to find out where Daniel had been.  Daniel felt trapped.  Just as trapped as he did when Professor Glas had him strapped to the examination table.

The nurse noticed Daniel's panic and frowned.  “Are you alright Mr. Grigio?  If you would like, I could have your father come back.”

Daniel took a deep breath and pressed his thumb and forefinger to his eyelids.  “Yeah, I just, didn't expect him to be here.”

“It's standard procedure to contact the legal guardian when a patient is underage.  When he learned you were here, he was very insistent that he see you immediately.”  The nurse frowned at this, indicating she did not approve of Daniel's father.

Daniel reviewed his options.  Knowing his father, putting this off for any longer, now that he knew where Daniel was, would only make things worse for Daniel.  He looked over at Nick, who was watching the scene unfold with mild interest, waiting to see Daniel’s response.  Trapped in the bed like he was, he would not be of much use in a fight, should it come to that.  Especially since he, Dakota, and Nick had their weapons had been taken from them when they were admitted.  Daniel wished that Dakota was still in the room.  Between Nick confined to the bed and Daniel's broken arm, Dakota was the only one who could actually put up a good fight.

“Are you certain you are well Mr. Grigio?” the nurse asked with genuine concern.  “If you aren't feeling up to it, you do have every right to decline visitors.”

“No, it's fine,” Daniel said.  “Send him in please.”

The nurse disappeared from the doorway, and Daniel inhaled deeply, trying to calm his nerves.  It didn't help that much. 

Suddenly the door flew open, nearly denting the wall with the handle.  A man stepped into the room and Daniel got the first good look of his father in over a month.

He was a large greasy man, with equally greasy wisps of graying hair on his head.  He wore soiled work pants and a gray shirt Daniel was only slightly convinced started its life that color.  The one difference in his appearance that Daniel noticed was that there wasn't some form of alcohol container firmly grasped within either of his hands.

“Daniel Grigio,” his father growled, baring his chipped tobacco stained teeth.  “Where the hell have you been?!”

“Hello father,” Daniel said in a monotone voice, trying to keep his fear under control.  He instantly regretted not trying the window to escape.  “I'm surprised to see you sober at this hour.  Have you been going to AA meetings?”

“Don't get smart aleky with me boy.  You've caused me hell since you left.”

“I know.  It must be absolutely horrible having to do crap around the house for once,” Daniel replied.  He knew he really shouldn't antagonize his father, but he couldn't help it.  All the anger from his father finding him was threatening to boil over.  The only thing keeping it in check was his fear of pushing his father too far, making him do something he'd regret.

“I've had to deal with the police on a daily basis since you left.  They think I did something to you.  Killed you, sold you into slavery, anything they can think of they accuse me.  And then I get a call from the chief of police, telling me my son was in the hospital after becoming a Huntsman.” Daniel's father laughed sarcastically.  “I thought for sure he was screwing with me.  Turns out, they actually let a soulless Grimmspawn like you in.”

“I don't have an Aura, but there's nothing that says I don't have a soul either.  Get your facts straight Father, you told them to me after all.”

His father moved suddenly, lurching over to stand right next to Daniel, his face a foot away from Daniel's.  Daniel couldn't help it, he shivered at the sight.

“Do you have any idea the damage you have caused boy?” Daniel's father asked, his voice a near whisper.  “What have I told you time and time again; never tell anyone what you are.  And the instant you leave, you go and flaunt your sickness like its badge of pride.”

“It's not a sickness father,” Daniel said.  “It is a part of me.  I can't change it any more than a Faunus can change their appearance, or a homosexual their attractions.”

“You will be shunned!” Daniel's father shouted, grasping Daniel's shoulders and shaking him.  “You think for a second that people out there won’t tear you to pieces the moment they realize what you truly are?  If you had only listened to your father like you're supposed to, you would be safe.”

Daniel looked right at his father and with all his courage said, voice trembling, “I don't know who you're trying to protect father, but it isn't me.”

His father let go immediately, stepping back in the process.  His nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, and he was trembling in rage.  Finally, he reached over and grabbed Daniel by the arm.  “Get up.  We're leaving,” he ordered as he pulled Daniel from the bed.

“Ow!  Dammit, let go of me!”  Daniel shouted as pain shot up his arm from where he had been stabbed.  He wrenched his arm free, immediately regretting the action as it caused the room to spin for him.  He stumbled backwards, desperate to avoid falling on his two bad arms.  He blearily looked up in time to get slapped in the face by his father.

“Don't you EVER talk back to me again!  You hear me you little (Daniel's father called Daniel a word that would have curled the toe hairs of even the toughest Grimm)?”  Daniel, still delirious, barely felt his father wrench him up into a standing position.  As he marched him to the door, Daniel tried to resist again, but he was still weak from his fight with Glas, and the subsequent week in the hospital.  Panic blossomed in his chest as they reached the door to the hall.  Daniel's heart began hammering and the whispering voices returned, calling for his father's death.  Daniel's father had just grasped the door handle when a metallic click sounded behind them, stopping him in his tracks. 

Together they turned around to see Nick holding his revolver, pointing it at Daniel's father.  How he had gotten ahold of his weapon, Daniel had no idea.  Right now though, it was one of the most beautiful sights Daniel had seen all week.  Nick didn't hold it very high and he struggled with the exertion, but he held it rock steady as he leveled it at Daniel's father's head.  With fire and determination in his eyes Nick stared right at Daniel's father and uttered one raspy word, barely above a whisper.

_“Leave.”_

Daniel's father eyed the revolver and the bedridden teenager with wary eyes; as if trying to decide whether or not Nick's strength could keep up.  As if to prove he could keep this up, Nick grasped his revolver with his other hand, using it to raise it fully up to eye level.  That was enough for Daniel's father.  With a grunt of irritation, he threw down Daniel's hand and pushed him aside.  “Don't think for a second your friend with the gun saved your hide boy.  You will never go back to that school of yours again.”  And with that, he wrenched the door open and stormed into the hall beyond.

Daniel turned around and slumped against the wall.  Gingerly, he moved his left hand over his chest and held it over his still rapidly beating heart.  The voices had faded away once more, something that Daniel was exceptionally glad for.  There was something extremely unnatural about the voices.  The way he had been fully ready and willing to kill Dakota back in the warehouse still sent shivers down his spine whenever he thought about it.

Daniel looked up at Nick, who had wearily dropped the pistol on his lap, and was now coughing with the exertion of using his voice.  “Thanks Nick,” Daniel said.  “Couldn't have done it without you.”

Nick responded with a weak smile before tilting his head up to stare at the ceiling; a habit he had begun at the hospital whenever he was tired and needed sleep.  Daniel sighed and struggled to get himself up.  The afternoon had went to being rather laid back, to very eventful.

It was that moment that Dakota chose to reenter the room, his IV stand under his arm.  He looked at Nick with a gun in his lap and beginning to doze off; to Daniel trying to get to his feet without using his arms.  “What the hell did I miss?” he asked.

@0@0@

Another week passed before Daniel was finally released from the hospital.  Dakota had been released the day after Daniel's father had arrived, and Nick was expected to spend at least another week at minimum for the doctors to attempt a surgery that would hopefully repair most of the remaining damage to his vocal chords.  Daniel himself still had his arm in a cast, but he was finally able to move around without too much dizziness.

Lunare was waiting out front in a newly repaired Scrapmetal when Daniel was discharged from the hospital.  He lowered the chassis of Scrapmetal to allow Daniel ease of entering and even held the passenger door open for him.  “It appears we caused quite the ruckus,” Lunare said as he put Scrapmetal into gear and eased out of the parking lot.  “Word of Professor Glas' arrest has spread quickly through Beacon, our involvement not far behind.  I have been forced to retreat within Scrapmetal's garage when not in class, lest I be bombarded by students demanding details.”  He looked at Daniel quite seriously.  “I fear your secret might not stay as such for much longer.  LSTR and I will continue to uphold our promise and keep it a secret, but even with our diligence, secrets rarely hold out under such scrutiny.

Daniel stared out at the highway flashing by and took a deep breath.  “I knew it would happen sooner or later.  I guess it's going to be sooner. Speaking of which,” he said, turning to face Lunare, “I never got to ask what you thought of my, condition.”

Lunare kept his eyes on the road as he maneuvered Scrapmetal over a smart car going only five miles over the speed limit.  “All that changes between you and I is your explanation about why you have yet to participate in a sparring match at Beacon.  While I wish you had confided in us earlier, I can also see your reasons for keeping the secret between you and your team.”

“And Professor Ozpin,” Daniel said.  “He knew without me even telling.  Said he liked to keep tabs on thinks people like keeping secret, or something like that.”

Lunare raised his eyebrows at this, but did not pursue it.  “Speaking of Professor Ozpin, he informed me before I left that he would like to speak with you once you returned.” Lunare mentioned as he made Scrapmetal scale the embankment to exit the highway and reach Beacon.  “I would suggest going there immediately.  He made it quite clear that it was rather urgent.”

@0@0@

Professor Ozpin was writing a report when Daniel exited the elevator and stepped into his office.  He looked from the paper up and nodded at Daniel.  “Please, have a seat Mr. Grigio.  I will be with you in just a moment.”

Daniel sat and waited while Professor Ozpin spend a couple minutes finishing the report.  When he was finished, he signed it and placed it off to the side.  “I apologize for the delay,” he said.  “Borders are rearranged, empires will fall, but paperwork will never cease to exist.”

“It's alright sir,” Daniel replied.

“I imagine you are wondering why instead of allowing you rest after your trying experience I instead asked that you report to me the moment you arrived,” Professor Ozpin said.  “Simply put, on behalf of the remaining staff here at Beacon Academy, I would like to formally apologize for the actions of one of our own.  While we as Huntsmen and Huntresses try to remain above selfish urges and wants, sometimes the desire to elevate ones ambitions over others becomes too-”

“He wasn't doing it for himself sir, and you know that,” Daniel interrupted.  “He kidnapped me, Dakota, and Velvet to try and save the world from the Grimm.  There's nothing selfish about that.”

Professor Ozpin sighed and picked up his mug, taking a sip of it.  “You are correct Daniel.  When I interrogated Arthur Glas, he told me he was prepared to sacrifice your life as well as his credibility as a physician so as to gain knowledge about the Grimm and hopefully develop more effective means to counteract the Grimm forces.  There is nothing selfish about that.”

“Then why-”

“-did I try to deceive you?” Professor Ozpin finished.  “Because I had hoped to be able to convince you otherwise, to ease your conscience.  I suppose I forgot you are no gullible child.  You are a Huntsman in training, and are soon to be a man.  It was rude for me to treat you any different.  I apologize for that as well.”

“Can I ask you a question sir?” Daniel asked.

“Merely one question?” Professor Ozpin asked with a hint of a smile.

“Was Professor Glas right?  I mean, I'm just one guy.  Compared to all the lives that could be saved by what they could learn from me, I'm nothing.  Was he right to sacrifice me for the greater good?”

Professor Ozpin looked Daniel directly in the eye.  “It is true that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.  I would not be surprised if your vivisection revealed the answers too many questions we have of the Grimm.”

“So you're saying that I should have just let Professor Glas dissect me?” Daniel asked in shock.  He stood up, clutching the desk, his heart hammering, the voices-

“That is not what I am saying, Daniel.” Professor Ozpin said in a commanding tone, stopping Daniel’s thoughts cold.  “While I would not be surprised if we learned about the Grimm from your dissection, I would also not be surprised if nothing was learned that could then be used to combat the Grimm any more effectively than we already do.  Furthermore, Arthur Glas was foolish in thinking that dissection was the only way to learn about your physiology.  There are many procedures that could investigate your peculiarities that did not result in your demise.  Lastly,” he said slightly calmer as he took a sip of coffee, “there is plenty that could be learned from simply studying with non-invasive methods.”

“But-”

“Daniel, do not regret your decision to oppose Arthur Glas,” Professor Ozpin said in a much calmer tone, “Right now, there is more you can do as a Huntsman than a specimen in a lab.  I suggest you embrace this.”

“I- yes sir,” Daniel said.  He wasn't completely satisfied with Professor Ozpin's answer, but for the time being, it would do.

“Good.  Now, before I release you to reunite with your friends, I regret that I must again burden you with the responsibility of paperwork,” Professor Ozpin said.  He flipped through a stack of papers before selecting one and pulling it out.  “I have here a form your father sent to me earlier this week, requesting that your status as a student at Beacon be revoked and you be returned to his custody immediately.  He was quite adamant about it being immediately, as he made very clear when I called him and informed him that it was not in my ability to release you; until the hospital deemed you fit to be discharged from their care.”

Daniel gulped.  “Sir, with all due respect, I believe a child endangerment case could be made against his demands.”

“Indeed,” Professor Ozpin commented.  “Unfortunately, Mr. Grigio is fully within his legal rights to have you returned to his custody, pending trial.  As Headmaster, I have no choice but to sign this document and remove you as a student of Beacon.”  He did so with a small flourish, marking his name on the document.

“So, there's nothing you can do for me sir?” Daniel asked, panic hitting him.

“Well, in this case I believe it is possible to follow a wise quote from a not-so wise man.”  Professor Ozpin said with a small smile.  “Certain events can take place that can ensure the paperwork never reaches his destination.”

And with that, Professor Ozpin took the document and ripped it in two, dropping the two halves in the trash.

**The End**

**Started: December 14 2014**

**Ended: October 21 2015 (less than a year!  Wooo!)**

**65285 words**

**24 chapters**

**1 great story**

**Special thanks to Aubrey for the use of team LSTR, and everything about them.  Without them, the story wouldn't be half as good as it is now.**

**And thanks to everyone whose enjoyed To Be Human, and offered good words about it.**

**I can assure you, this is not the end.**

**Teams DDLN and LSTR will return.**

**In To Be Human, Book 2**

**Until then, peace out.**


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